Young professionals are struggling to adapt socially at work… can educators step in?

@MegWhitgal
I totally agree with this.

Teachers already have so much to handle. Instead of dumping everything on them, maybe parents should stop over-managing their kids and let them have some unstructured playtime. Let them figure out how to socialize and communicate instead of doing everything for them.

Here’s an idea: Employers should be educators too.

The article talks about what universities can do, but some of these skills are specific to certain companies or industries. When hiring recent grads, companies should assume they’ll need to provide some training. As a teacher, I’m seeing new educators who also need help adapting. We’re already mentoring them, so why isn’t that standard practice in other industries? Why do we always expect teachers to fix everything?

I’m new here, but I have a child starting school and I also work with recent college grads. Isn’t this what business school is for? In my undergrad, we had classes on presentation skills, professional communication, organizational behavior, and management. Maybe we should make business classes part of general education.

@StephieStephie
I remember learning those skills in school too. We had a whole module on writing professional emails, memos, and phone etiquette. We should definitely bring that back.

ace said:
@StephieStephie
I remember learning those skills in school too. We had a whole module on writing professional emails, memos, and phone etiquette. We should definitely bring that back.

It’s funny you mention that. I was just talking to some younger employees about this. We had an entire class on things like phone etiquette, correspondence, and even how to use place settings at a formal dinner. It was cringey at the time, but useful.

Just bring back Steven Covey’s ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’—it’s still a great book.

For years, we’ve been told that a college degree is the key to success. But new hires today are often inexperienced because they’ve been shielded by their parents and haven’t had jobs during high school. They go to college, hide out for years, and only step into the real world for short internships. It’s no wonder they struggle when they finally get a real job.