Hello my freezing friends- hope the recent upswing in the B.C. weather is for real!

I can’t tell you how many personal biases came into play as I searched for an article which somehow fit the criteria of being “one trend you see in adult education”. Actually, you know what, I can. This tangent is going to push me way over the 100 word recommendation again, but I’m sure one Ms. Brooke won’t dock too many marks 😉

So, getting back on point here (to my off-topic story), after a long day of making lecture notes followed by a gym workout, I plopped down in front of my laptop to conquer the first of two blog entries due this week. I immediately realized that my choosing of an article was going to be highly biased to my own life. Let me count the ways:

1. I am a student in a continuing studies program centered around adult learning– This should immediately tell you that I am a believer in taking control of your own development. To make matters even more biased, I have three major qualifications already. Someone with significant first-hand experience with learning (and paying for it out of his own pocket) very likely sees big-time value in pursuing higher education.
2. I teach at two post-secondary institutions– Ever heard that people should “follow their passions”? Well, I guess I liked school so much that I’ve made a career out of it. Given this, I would be inclined to select an article which would center around adults enrolling in College/University programs.
3. I am an avid follower of North American political and economic issues– With the U.S. election taking place recently, someone sympathetic to the middle class issues which dominated the election would likely want to analyze professional development of today’s workforce. I’ll stop my list here, even though I can think of a whole bunch of other factors which “pushed” me to this particular article.

So what is my article of choice? It’s Incentives – and pressures – for U.S. workers in a ‘knowledge economy’ by Lee Raine.

Mr. Raine started this article off the right way- with an eye catching statistic which gave reason for reading the rest of the article- 63% of workers and 36% of all adults have attempted to upgrade their skills and knowledge in the past year. This served as the “WOW! What?” of the article. Obviously, that is a HUGE percentage and doesn’t follow our traditional view of someone developing a set of skills at young age and then using them to earn a living until retirement.

The statistic was backed up by a graph with weighting of five reasons why full-time and part-time workers decided to upgrade their skills (the accountant in me couldn’t help noticing that the percentages didn’t add up to 100%) and some testimonials from workers themselves. This was actually a depressing read, as people seemed very concerned about their careers. Losing their jobs due to automation or globalization seemed like a legitimate fear out there.

However, the article did get become more upbeat as I read on. People’s motivation to learn ranged from improved self-worth to a stronger ability to serve others. The desire to “prove others wrong” was also stated by some of those surveyed. The author stressed that survey participants generally had a positive view of learning and experienced reward from self-development.

I personally have mixed feelings about all of this. On one hand, I am not a fan of companies which don’t see value in long-term investment in their employees, be it through professional development or job security. It feels like most big corporations no longer value their employees as much as they used to and our governments are doing very little to balance the scales for workers. Unions are less prevalent now and good paying jobs are disappearing.

That said, I am happy to see people taking the initiative to direct their own development and careers. This attitude gives workers more flexibility in their lives- what they want to do, how they want to work, how much work they want to do, how much they wish to earn, etc. Having options reduces reliance on your employer and you gain freedom to explore your passions. Having worked temp jobs for about two years, I know how it feels like to lack job security. However, if I had been stuck in one workplace all these years, I would never have had the chance to develop such a diverse set of skills, nor discover my passion for teaching others.

I may be biased in saying this, but I would strongly urge anyone who wants to learn something new- just go out and do it. You will be glad you did.