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• Position: ROUND TABLE: BUSINESS & EDUCATION

It wasn't that long ago that workers did the same job for the same company for their entire career. But that's rarely the case anymore. Companies operating in today's dynamic economy require workers to gain a breadth of skills, including those not traditional associated with employment, and update them as business changes. Teaching them is no longer a singular effort either. Educators need businesses to shape curriculums, for example, ensuring graduates are properly equipped. Business North Carolina recently gathered a group of experts, representing education and business, to discuss how the two groups can work together and why it's important.

HOW DO BUSINESSES HELP SCHOOLS BETTER PREPARE STUDENTS?

SULLIVAN: Students need career awareness, especially when they're young. NCBCE has been running Students@Work, an annual career awareness program for middle school students, for 12 years. It gives about 50,000 students the opportunity to spend some time with businesses in their community. It was done virtually the past two years because of the pandemic, and next year it will be a hybrid--a mix of in-person and virtual components. The virtual option has improved with technology, and it's a way for students to hear from professionals and industries outside of their community. It's a good option for many schools.

ECKEL: Students@Work has been highly successful. It evolved from discussions between NCBCE and Bob Eaves, former Gov. Bev Perdue's husband and board member for several education-related organizations. He allowed NCBCE to take his idea, which was being used in Craven County schools, and apply it statewide. Its goal is simple: expose middle school students to industries within their community and the skills they need to work at them. A big reason that it's a great program is it didn't take machinations to make it happen. It only required an understanding of how NCBCE members can engage with teachers and schools to bring students to workplaces or vice versa. NCBCE simply asked its members to participate. It never asked for an appropriation or anything else to make it happen. The business community can engage with teachers and students in many ways. While companies are doing a mix of the same and different things, at the end of the day it's our responsibility to do something. Teachers are our most important workforce. And students are our most important resource. So, we must ensure they continue to grow with us as employers and as a state.

If we don't engage, we're losing out on an opportunity. The state's major industries are changing. Once known primarily for manufacturing, textiles and agriculture, it has more of a knowledge-based and technology-based economy today. While those legacy industries will always be part of the state, today's workers need different skills. Educators need to understand that their students will need them to join North Carolina's workforce. So, we have to evolve education to teach them. Teachers and students--K through 12 and beyond--need to understand the growing importance of soft skills, for example, such as showing up on time, running a meeting, understanding how to be successful and negotiating your way through an organization. An individual's success depends on them.

GRESSETT: Moore Square hosted an NCBCE work-based learning takeover a few years ago. All classes were engaged by businesses, both local and from across the state. Representatives from Google, for example, helped students tear apart computers, and Red Hat employees wrote software coding with them. Teachers were impressed, and students thought it was super cool. It also helped soft-skills development. Businesspeople can teach them easier than a teacher or career development coordinator, like me. Those communication lessons are priceless. I enjoy helping students consider careers. They owe it to themselves to think about what they'll do after high school. It's not about creating stress for them. It's simply food for thought and not written in stone. We've been working to create a career and college-going culture at our school. I like to expose my sixth-graders to college mascots, for example, starting them thinking about what is college. It gives them something tangible. But I list career first for a reason. College requires an explanation. It's not only N.C. State, Duke, UNC and other four-year institutions. It's lifelong learning. I have a good relationship with people at Wake Technical Community College, which offers degrees and workforce training for people at different points in their careers. We include them in everything we do.

HOW IS TECHNOLOGY SHAPING SCHOOL-BUSINESS...