Investigates why employers (particularly those valuing technical progress as important for performance) share general training costs and returns. Workers stay with a firm paying a wage below their opportunity wage if it continually provides additional training so that the prospect of future wages outweighs the short-run gain from quitting and…

In the vision of workplace past, work and education combined to improve productivity; in workplace present, workers are deficient and need specialized training. Workplace future must reconceptualize work, addressing race, sex, and class bias and making families and subsistence production, rather than commodity production, the centerpiece. (SK)

Too many teenagers are making part-time employment, not school, their highest priority. Work becomes a succession of short-term, minimum-wage jobs without ties to academic learning, school programs, or career paths. Schools must strengthen the school-work connection by communicating with employers and integrating work issues into courses. Sidebars…

According to a 10-year follow-up of 178 gerontology graduates of Rhode Island College (44 responses), the majority never worked in the field and most had not recently worked in the field. Age, gender, degree, and prior experience were not significant. Most would pursue the certificate program again. (SK)

Explores educational structure shifts in Netherlands banking caused by technological developments. A cross-section analysis of 100 local banks shows that diffusion of office automation has positively affected the skill level and share of vocationally skilled workers. Automated banks also use recruitment policies to adjust skill structure more…

Argues that matching education to jobs is unrealistic. Offers solutions to mitigate unemployment: forget labor force forecasting, relax minimum wage laws, devocationalize schools, encourage private schools, teach vocational skills in specialized schools or the workplace, and target subsidies to the poor. (SK)

The influence of attending a women's college on early career attainments was assessed through a national sample of college students. When controlled for individual background and aspirations and for college selectivity and size, the net impact of attending a women's college on five measures of attainment was reduced to nonsignificance. (Author/MSE)

A 1987 task force working on Michigan's Employability Skills Assessment Project recommended a portfolio approach to help students develop teamwork, personal management, and workforce readiness skills. Michigan's plan offers a chance for schools to integrate experiences in students' lives with school learning. Judith Schaftenaar's sidebar presents…

Teachers play an important role in making all students aware of career options and gender-based barriers to career development. They should be committed to an educational environment that fosters equal opportunity for both sexes to prepare for work. (JOW)

If substantive changes are to occur in high schools, discrepancies must be identified that will improve student learning. Principals must be alert to the opportunities for change presented by teachers, parents, and students when they discuss their problems and successes. Principals must become both problem seekers and problem solvers and gather…

Students in marketing (n=40), selling (n=44), and distribution (n=40) courses rated 35 business and nonbusiness careers in terms of "professionalism." Differing attitudes indicate that course selection and coursework play a role in formation of attitudes about professionalism. (JOW)

In June 1991, U.S. Department of Labor issued the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) Report detailing the necessary competencies and foundations required for twenty-first-century workers. Because communications skills, critical thinking, work habits, interpersonal skills, and individual responsibility are as important as…

Defines office information systems, a specialized academic area within the domain of information systems, as the application of information technologies in office environments to support work processes, improve employee performance, and enhance organizational effectiveness in support of business goals and strategies. (JOW)

The Texas Scholars Program, a joint business/education venture, is a low-cost program that motivates the "forgotten majority" (lower ranked students) to complete a rigorous academic curriculum preparing them for the labor market or postsecondary education. Since 1989, Eastman Chemical Company business leaders have been…

Recognizing educational technology's four major uses helps assess its value. Technology can improve administrative effectiveness through efficient communication, planning, and record keeping; provide learners with cost-effective access to current, accurate, and extensive information resources; provide teachers with enabling tools and resources;…