Summer learning losses are a real threat to all students entering the summer months. Providing kids with educational games, activities, materials, and experiences during their summer vacation is crucial in retaining information learned during the school year and preparing them for the transition into next year.

The Class of 2012 has reason to celebrate. They’re among the 56% of college students who stuck it out and finished a college degree in under 6 years,¹ they found their calling, and they are prepared to make an impact on the world. However, with rising student debt, a volatile job market, and an overall uncertain economic future, many students may also be leaving with anxiety about entering the workforce.

Graduation, whether in 1960 or 2012 or in an up or down economy, can bring a mixed bag of emotions. Our evolving society provides each generation a unique perspective as they leave the comfort of academia, but we all have common emotions, thoughts, and questions as we step into a new environment that possesses some level of uncertainty. Change is a dichotomy. This exciting time full of parties, toasts, friends, and family can also bring pangs of sadness.

Kids who aren’t involved in summer learning activities suffer the greatest learning losses in math and reading. Underprivileged students who have less learning resources available to them during the school year and the summer months are put at an increased disadvantage, setting them back from their more affluent peers and increasing the achievement gap. Low-income parents who aren’t involved often suffer in exposure, awareness, and sometimes their own opportunity to prepare for the GED, community college, or better employment.

Due to the tightness of teacher and school resources, no matter how much student success is a priority, the school systems can’t shoulder all the responsibility of improving learning circumstances for their students. But that doesn’t suggest students have no options. Many communities and foundations are stepping forward to support students with free or affordable supplementary programs. As more graduates enter the workforce underprepared for the working world, advocates for student achievement, engagement, and success have moved beyond school walls and infiltrated communities, businesses, and families that rely on successful citizens who propel our society forward.

LifeBound is launching a summer reading program with the Omaha Public Library this summer to get books in the hands of  1,000 students who otherwise will approach a summer without learning resources that keep their brains engaged and ready to start the next school year strong. The role of the public library is being redefined across the country, with some providing computer skills, programs for the homeless, basic supplies for impoverished families, and more. As a place of refuge for many, libraries are answering the call to help educate our communities. One of our trainers will be working with library staff to facilitate enrichment classes for students, sessions for parents, and Friday night “Lock In” events for eighty targeted at-risk youth who will receive dinner and exposure to an educational event. This is just one of many examples LifeBound is involved with this summer to bring reading enrichment to students who would otherwise go without.

LifeBound’s books do more than develop reading skills; they help students develop the social and emotional skills they need to be successful in school, career, and life. As students learn more about themselves, they learn to embrace rigor and challenge and become better students. The manager of Whole Child Programs at ASCD says, “you will find an 11 percent increase” in students’ academic achievement with the implementation of a social and emotional learning component.¹ Based on that 11 percent increase, we can build a strong foundation for students making the transition to middle school, high school, and college. Our hope is that those students can become the peer mentors and role models for younger students in their housing projects or neighborhoods, showing by example the power of summer reading.

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Sources:
¹“Raising Stellar Students About More Than Getting Top Grades,” by Julie Rasicot. 11 May 2012. Bethesda Magazine. Accessed on 15 May 2012. http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Blogs/Education-Matters/May-June-2012/Raising-Stellar-Students-About-More-Than-Getting-Top-Grades/

Many college students are lining up internships for the summer months or the coming semester. Some college graduates are also getting internships to further their professional experience after college and possibly get their foot in the door in careers and fields they have recently narrowed to match their interests and abilities.

An estimated fifty-percent of college grads in 2008 held an internship,¹ and the number has only grown since the beginning of the recession.  Unpaid internships have received bad press in the last few years because some companies have taken advantage of interns, asking them to work late at night or run errands to get coffee for staff members.  These isolated situations don’t take into account the many companies who provide valuable experience for interns, often helping them to gain enough experience to land their first job. The payment issue with interns is a mixed bag. Many companies aren’t willing to take a risk to pay someone they consider unskilled and yet many students can’t get a job and improve their skills unless they have “experience”.

Internships provide students, graduates, and professionals with experience they can only get through being on the job. This experience can solidify their passion for the field or company. It can also do the opposite, and show them they might be ill-suited for the “idea” of their perfect job or that they have skills that are better fit for another field altogether.  Whether the experience is a good fit or a bad fit for their career, most internships teach students something about the team dynamics, leadership, and levels of responsibility they require to be effective in any career.

At LifeBound, we have interns who are referred to us from local universities who are managed and monitored by their university’s internship coordinators. These students receive grades and school credit for their professional experience. Many interns have found a part or full time position after graduation at our company. We’ve also had interns who came to us thinking they wanted an editorial career, for example, who in a few different instances found their real passions in marketing or film. The “wrong” internship turned out to be just as valuable, if not more, for these students as they were given the chance to explore their interests in a professional environment for the first time.

It’s a harsh reality: average workers will have a much harder time in today’s economic climate. The competition is heating up and those who are exceptional will have traction, gratification and fulfillment in the workforce.

Average workers don’t put in the extra that sets them apart from other members of the team, whereas exceptional workers draw energy from harnessing  their unique abilities. It may sound like becoming an exceptional worker will be much more depleting than putting in average effort, but, in fact, it’s the opposite. People who feel “very successful” and “completely successful” at work are twice as likely to say they are happy than those who only feel “somewhat successful,” with their level of income making no difference in their levels of happiness, according to Arthur Brooks in the article “America and the Value of ‘Earned Success.’”¹ Exceptional people are driven to become exceptional for its intrinsic value (in happiness and fulfillment), not extrinsic value (in dollars and status).

Brooks makes the distinction between the unhappily average and the happily exceptional by explaining the emotional segregation between “earned success” and what psychologist Martin Seligman calls “learned helplessness.” With earned success, rewards and punishments are tied to merit, causing people to be driven by the reward of happiness. With learned helplessness, rewards and punishments are not tied to merit, causing people to give up because they feel powerless and depressed.  People who make the greatest contributions in the world are the ones who are satisfied and inspired enough to fulfill themselves and improve the world for others.

Being exceptional personally, in school, in our economy, and in our society, are all inextricably linked. The happiness that results from “earned success” reminds us that our desire for a better world and a happier disposition is a desire that is intrinsic and human. As Brooks puts it: The stakes in the current policy battles today are not just economic. They are moral. Young people have a better chance of contributing to the world as a whole if they can contribute effectively to their own lives, family and community.

Every day our lives move further away from what we’ve spent millions of years defining as human, and come closer to what we used to know as science fiction. While classrooms integrate more technology, more people communicate over devices, more businesses explode online, more people become stressed over grades, money, mortgages, weight, happiness, relationships, etc., we have to ask why it matters. There are so many things that clutter our lives that it can be easy to forget to leave room for the human element that should drive why we do what we do and want what we want.  The new book, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle underscores this reality.

As we continue talking about standardized tests, let’s remember that the conversation is not about test scores; it’s about giving every one an equal chance at an excellent education and an excellent way of life. Being competitive globally is not about being number one on a list; it’s about handing our kids and their kids a healthy country where education is a priority and their potential can be realized. Lowering unemployment, raising high school and college graduation rates, and preparing college students for the success in the workforce is not about numbers; it’s about leveling the playing field for all individuals to have a shot at being an exceptional person with an exceptionally happy life. Those are the ingredients of an exceptional world and that, while challenging, is within our reach.

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¹“America and the Value of ‘Earned Success,” by Arthur Brooks. 8 May 2012. The Wall Street Journal. Accessed on 11 May 2012. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304749904577385650652966894.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The world of work is ever- changing. However, new graduates will experience a heightened level of change over the span of their careers, as technology becomes more integrated and new software, tools, and gadgets make their work more efficient and far reaching.  Add to that the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit of today’s young people who will be launching many of the new businesses which will fuel our economic growth over the next several decades in areas that don’t yet exist, and it could be hard to predict what the workforce will look like in 20, or even 10, years.

All industries use technology, but that doesn’t mean all students or current workers have been trained or prepared for demands of the digital workforce. Older workers are finding they need to return to school to keep up with technology changing their industry, even with twenty-plus years on the job¹. Graduating youth may be at an advantage now as they exit college with know-how to succeed in today’s job market, but must adopt the mindset of a lifelong learner to stay ahead of the curve.

Technology hasn’t only changed the way we organize, communicate, and entertain, it’s also opened the doors to a global market and started a conversation between workers around the world. We are moving toward a complete reliance on technology to communicate, which is infiltrating dialogues, local and international, and requiring professionals have stronger communication skills than ever before in order to converse with the diverse workforce. In his commencement speech, David Calhoun, CEO of The Nielson Co. also highlighted the need to “keep learning throughout life,” not solely because of technology, but because globalization causes the world to change so fast that we can safely bet that our skills will become outdated at a fast pace².

Have you used Skype to talk with your parents while away at college? Have you used your filters on your Gmail account to separate your personal messages from your school messages? Have you learned how to close a professional email? Have you learned how to effectively write a negative message and close it in a positive way? All of these skills of diplomacy and negotiating will help you to launch your business ideas inside a small start up, a mid-size company, or within a department of a Fortune 500 company. Some colleges offer basic computer literacy classes that teach you how to use basic computer programs like word processors, spreadsheets, and some online organization tools, but much of the skills students are expected to bring to the world of work are self taught.

Consider the following reality of the new workforce:

• A Skype commissioned survey estimates that 62% of firms employ workers remotely³.
• Miscommunication can be a common problem because new hires lack of verbal and nonverbal skills.
• Immediacy may take away from the quality of computer mediated communication, as writers who feel rushed may not proof their emails, instant messages, or text messages for errors before sending⁴.
• Technology is everywhere, making a finer line for workers between personal time and work time.
• Currently, 57% of employers offer flexible working hours, due to the large amount of remote workers⁵.
• A lot of companies spread their employment across borders, which may pose language and cultural barriers between workers from different countries.

This Saturday, my oldest nephew, Carson, graduates from college. Twenty-eight years ago to the day, I graduated from the same university. As I think about the last twenty-eight years, I realize how many things have changed and how many ways life has improved, despite our challenges.

On the challenging front, the world has become less safe. Terrorists have threatened our liberties and the nature of airline travel has changed forever. Many schools which were once safe havens have advanced security systems and students who are trained in how to respond in the face of an attack. Cars, cigarettes and fast food are now prevalent in countries where people used to bike, eat healthy and have low rates of heart disease and diabetes. Even here in America, we have high levels of childhood obesity and diabetes. Young adults today have gone to college in a recession and they are required to be creative, resilient and resourceful.

On the side of opportunity, the world is connected with  cell phones, iPads and iPods and the internet. People are learning across borders and boundaries like they never have before; technology is allowing the poorest people from the most remote provinces the same chance to learn as the people from the wealthiest gated community. Countries like India and China have emerged from poverty and strife into thriving, standard setting models of learning, technology and business. Electric cars and wind-powered turbines are helping us to think differently about electricity, sustainability and energy. Ingenuity is alive and well, fostered by difficult economic conditions. We’ve made huge strides in AIDs research and treatments and some types of cancer though we are still struggling with many other diseases.

What will my nephew look back on in 2040 when he has been out of college for twenty-eight years? How many advances in science, technology and medicine will students graduating today create? Who will be the next Steve Jobs? The next Bill Gates? The next Mark Zuckerburg? The next Ariana Huffington? The next Oprah? The next Hillary? What ideas will define the next several decades? Which ideas will have the impact of an iPhone, a PlayStation, Xbox, YouTube, LinkedIn?

Certainly  nanotechnology, more energy and fuel efficient ways of living, education for all, an end to poverty, a peaceful way to negotiate legal and business issues across cultures and borders, a stronger connection with and awareness of people from around the world, a fierce commitment to solving some of the world’s biggest problems and innovating in the most unexpected ways.

Most of all, if my nephew and his friends are any indication, I will hold that this year’s graduating college class will have the spirit and the wherewithal to make the most out of themselves, tackle the world’s most pressing problems and make the world a more healthy, imaginative, generous and safe place through their dignity, courage, tenacity and decency.

In past cycles of the U.S. economy, a college degree — or even a high school diploma — could be enough for a job seeker to land a well-paying position that afforded them staples of an American lifestyle, such as home and car ownership, leaving home as a teen or young adult, and starting a family. In the new economy, with high unemployment rates for teens and adults, neither a college degree or high school diploma comes with a job guarantee, and many young adults are reacting by living with their parents longer, delaying marriage and child birth and indefinitely postponing large purchases. ¹

Part of the dissatisfaction in the job market for new graduates and young professionals is not that they are unemployed, but that they are underemployed. An underemployed professional is described as someone who makes a living doing something that requires lower-skill levels and does not require their degree. In an economy where the underemployed are considered the fortunate ones to some, many keep their jobs to pay the bills and supplement their work with something more fulfilling, like a part-time job, volunteering, internships, a hobby, or starting their own business. The new professional who finds him or herself underemployed may find comfort in having a job, but they must take chances, find their grit, and search for (or create) employment opportunities that will keep them engaged in the professional world they hope to join and ultimately, improve.

Through working with young professionals, I hear stories of new grads and professionals who are moving above being underemployed by taking a leap of faith. Kenny is a new graduate who graduated with a degree in English. He started working at Whole Foods in college, and continued working there after graduation. A regular patron knew Kenny was a writer and told him she knew a nonprofit that was looking for a copywriter for their newsletter and website. He called the nonprofit and got his first professional writing job, where he got experience setting a freelance wage, working with clients, and meeting deadlines outside of school.  He was open, receptive and failed to be a “victim” bemoaning his current status.  That outlook is attractive and positively impressed this patron who is opening all kinds of doors for Kenny.

Izzy, a graduate of a prestigious women’s college, works at a coffee shop for six months out of the year to save money to travel to Nepal, where for the remaining six months she lives with a local family and volunteers at an orphanage. Her ten year goal is to start her own organization in Nepal that would allow her to spend more of her time at the orphanage, and less time at the coffee shop. By living with her parents the six months out the year she is in the U.S., she is able to save money off her barista wages for her flight to Nepal, as well as bring suitcases of needed supplies to her kids.  She is purposeful in her choices and focused on her long term goals.

Alice is a college senior who recently quit her well-paying supervisor job at a grocery store for a lower-paying job at a non-profit organization that better aligned with her career goals in political science. As a new hire, she worked odd hours canvassing neighborhoods, which was not her ideal job, but one that she hoped would help her get her foot in the door of the organization. After a few months, the position for her dream job opened, which came with a salary and an office. Alice went for it, and against dozens of applicants in the organizations, landed her first professional job.  She was convinced that her willingness to step in to her passion, even for lower pay, would ultimately pay off and it did.

The job market can be difficult for many of today’s young adults, but those who are resourceful, driven, have vision, and fight for a position in the new economy will find their hard work pays off.  Have a teflon attitude about your gifts, talents and passions and you will forge your own rewarding, sustainable path.

Thirty years ago this summer, I was finishing my first unpaid internship in Washington, D.C with Common Cause, a lobbying  group run at the time by Archibald Cox, John Gardner of Stanford, and, at times, Ralph Nader. The next year, the report,  A NATION AT RISK¹, was issued as I began my internship in New York City at the Academy for Educational Development. During both summers, I waited on tables at night to be able to work for no pay at my valuable internships. This report was commissioned by the then President Ronald Reagan. I distinctly remember one of the most defining lines of that document:  The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.

In 1984, I graduated into one of the worst job markets since that the one we are experiencing today.  Little did I know then that almost thirty years later, I would look back on a career in education which has, in the last decade specifically, become devoted to reversing America’s underdeveloped, undereducated and underemployed.

Fast forward almost thirty years beyond the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND legislation, the largesse of people like Bill and Melinda Gates and the global picture of students around the world compared with the students learning here in the United States. Students who were born in and around that time now make up some of the college graduates who are in their twenties during one of the most difficult recessions for young adults. According to this week’s New York Times², youth advocacy groups designed to galvanize the efforts of graduates, in a more effective way than the Occupy Movement, are emerging. These graduates are required to be resourceful about creating their future work, facilitating networks where they can help each other, and developing a strong psychological personal outlook which will help them endure any economic turbulence.

When I wrote my first book, now in its fifth edition, MAJORING IN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE:  Career Secrets for College Students, I explored all of the workplace realities which few people bothered to share with undergraduates so that they could actually prepare for success once they earned their degree and landed their first job. The keys to the hidden job market are now as they were in the mid to late 1980s –a willingness from mentors and managers whom students have met on internships to pick up the phone, write a specific letter (or email)  or set up a meeting for a former intern who has demonstrated not just what they know, but what they know how to do; a college student who is willing to forego partying during the week to dig earnestly and wholly into their academics through facilitating a study group, reaching out to the professor or clarifying subject matter with a teaching assistant; a freshman who starts college by spending his summer truly learning what is ahead and preparing fully for a successful transition, including honestly evaluating his own strengths and weaknesses. Students with this kind of foresight can navigate the hidden job market as well as the transparent one.  They know how to tirelessly pursue opportunities and they know how to add real value once they are given the chance to show both their knowledge and their skills. These are the graduates who will not just get a job this season after they graduate. Indeed, they will be forging a promotion path no matter where their gifts and talents take them.

In the coming days, I will explore initiatives we’ve tried and the academic performance, graduation rates and graduation prospects compared with our past, as well as developing and developed nations around the world.

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¹ “A Nation at Risk,” by the National Commission on Excellence in Education.” April 1983. http://reagan.procon.org/sourcefiles/a-nation-at-risk-reagan-april-1983.pdf

² “Jobs Few, Grads Flock to Unpaid Internships,” by Steven Greenhouse. 6 May 2012. The New York Times. Accessed on 7 May 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/business/unpaid-internships-dont-always-deliver.html

Recessions, ebb and flow. Between 1948 and 2011, there have been 10 recessions, according the National Bureau of Economic Research¹.  That means there are many people in the U.S. who have been in all 10 recessions and made their  way out. The BLS describes a recession as: “A general slowdown in economic activity, a downturn in the business cycle, a reduction in the amount of goods and services produced and sold.”

In the early 1980s, when I graduated from college, I entered an economy with similar conditions to today’s graduates. I was entering a workforce with high unemployment rates (1982-3 was the last time unemployment rates rose above 10%²) and limited job openings. Some Americans even held a familiar sentiment to today’s Occupy Movement protestors on taxes, that President Reagan’s budget cuts were hurting the poor and benefitting the rich³.

In the most recent recession, among the many things we hope turn around like student loan debt, housing foreclosures, etc, we are waiting for more job creation and more skilled workers to fill those positions. Though the two recessions may have had different catalysts and recovery plans, they share a similar reality: There are many unemployed or underemployed workers looking to fill a limited number of job openings. The recent growth in earnings posted last quarter by many corporations come from higher profits with very few jobs added due to so many jobs off shore at companies like FoxCon.

Recessions show that people and the economy are resilient and they recover. As high school students approach graduation, they are encouraged to think about their upcoming years in college with a connection to their future career. What do they want to get out of college? What experiences can they have in college that can directly help them get ahead in the professional world? There are college students who are not only making an early connection between college and career, they are also creating jobs for themselves. There are also students who sleep through college and don’t set any professional expectations for themselves. These students leave college without  building the professional skills of wherewithal, fortitude and grit which success in the working world requires.

Leaving the comfort of college for an unstable economy can be a foreboding leap.  Take heart.  Many who have come before you have bravely faced their fears only to experience the strength, capability and purpose that their unique qualities reveal.

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¹“Cycles,” The National Bureau of Economic Research. http://www.nber.org/cycles/

²http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2012/recession/pdf/recession_bls_spotlight.pdf

³http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/reagan-recession/