Damian was the first in his family to earn a high school diploma, and he is now an assistant manager at an automobile tire company. When students come to school with such complex issues and emotional baggage, classroom teachers face an immense challenge in preparing them to succeed in the 21st century workplace and in the real world. Technology has transformed the workplace into a rapidly evolving electronic setting where people work in teams to solve problems and meet goals. The need for employees with new skills and competencies requires each of us to pursue lifelong learning to keep pace with the changing demands of the workplace. Projections indicate that for the foreseeable future our nation's economy will create virtually no new jobs for those lacking basic skills.
Employers find it nearly impossible to train their workers for new jobs if they lack basic skills.
In many cases, students' written communication skills have improved so dramatically that it is difficult to believe that writing samples from the beginning and end of a school year were written by the same student. Paired with volunteer mentors who are professional working adults, our students have succeeded in school and in the workplace. Mentors help them set goals, develop self-esteem, assume social and personal responsibility, and plan and prepare for a career. Through business partnerships, some of my students have been trained at high-tech companies such as Microsoft, where they were later employed in the summer or after school. Through a partnership with Pima Community College, we offer evening courses in writing for the parents of our students and other adults in the community.