rethinking higher education: focusing on skills and ...

Psychosociological Issues in Human Resource Management 4(2), 2016, pp. 104–121, ISSN 2332-399X, eISSN 2377-0716

RETHINKING HIGHER EDUCATION: FOCUSING ON SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES MIRIAM GERSTEIN [email protected] Department of Accounting, Murray Koppelman School of Business, Brooklyn College, City University of New York HERSHEY H. FRIEDMAN [email protected] Business Management Department, Murray Koppelman School of Business, Brooklyn College, City University of New York ABSTRACT. The perceived purpose of college education keeps shifting. There was a time that its purpose was seen as teaching ethics/morality/values to students. Today, the focus is on delivering skills and competencies to succeed in life as well as a career. This paper posits that the ideal university ensures that all courses regardless of discipline work together to enhance the skills of students. This ensures that students will be resilient and productive regardless of how often the nature of their work changes. The accounting major is used as an example to demonstrate how a skillsbased education together with a disciplinary major produces the ideal accountant. The outdated distinction between intellectual and vocational majors is meaningless since any major can be enhanced once there is an emphasis on delivering skills together with the content. JEL codes: I23; D83 Keywords: competency-based education; skills; 4 C’s of education; college majors; organizational agility; critical thinking; adaptability; collaboration; communication skills; lifelong learning; outcomes assessment; storytelling How to cite: Gerstein, Miriam, and Hershey H. Friedman (2016), “Rethinking Higher Education: Focusing on Skills and Competencies,” Psychosociological Issues in Human Resource Management 4(2): 104–121. Received 20 April 2016 • Received in revised form 22 May 2016 Accepted 23 May 2016 • Available online 10 June 2016

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Introduction What is the purpose of higher education? There are three answers typically given to this scabrous question. Some believe that the purpose of a higher education is the acquisition of career skills, i.e., the vocational purpose; others claim it is the acquisition of a philosophy of life and intellectual/cognitive stimulation; yet others assert it is the acquisition of values, morals, and ethics (Brooks, 2014). Today, it appears that everyone ranging from administrators to politicians to students believe that “transferred skills are the desired product of a college” (Berrett, 2016). This, of course, means that college courses will have to become vehicles for the transfer of vital skills. A vast majority of students concur. In 2011, almost 80% of freshmen stated that the purpose of higher education was to become “very well off financially” (Berrett, 2015; Fischer & Friedman, 2015a). This may help explain why enrollments at liberal arts colleges are declining. One member of the board of trustees of a liberal arts college stated: “These are tough times for liberal-arts colleges, and unless you come up with something unique you’re not likely to survive” (Biemiller, 2016). Some are trying to incorporate skills into their liberal-arts courses. Recently, several influential politicians have spoken out against college majors which they believe do nothing more than satisfy intellectual curiosity. For example, Governor Rick Scott of Florida asserted: “If I’m going to take money from a citizen to put into education, then I’m going to take that money to create jobs. Is it a vital interest of the state to have more anthropologists? I don’t think so.” Governor Pat McCrory of North Carolina made a similar statement in 2013 about gender studies. Even President Obama made a remark, for which he later apologized, that contrasted the earning potential of art history as a college major with the acquisition of practical skills in the trades and manufacturing (Berrett, 2015). More and more politicians are speaking out against college majors that they feel are of little value in the employment market. Berrett (2015) believes that Ronald Reagan, then Governor of California, may have triggered this major shift in the public’s view of higher education from an intellectual to a vocational enterprise. On February 28, 1967, he stated that “there are certain intellectual luxuries that perhaps we could do without” and argued that taxpayers should not be “subsidizing intellectual curiosity” (Berrett, 2015). Like it or not, “skills have become the new canon” (Berrett, 2016). Major firms such as Google would rather hire individuals who demonstrate real competence than college graduates with high GPAs (Weinreich, 2014; Friedman, 2014). Such thinking would explain why short-term, work-related certificates, a type of “stackable credential” which constitutes a simple way to demonstrate that one possesses a skill, are increasingly popular (Mangan, 105

2015). Leading companies such as Adobe, Google, and Microsoft offer certifications that are highly sought after in the IT industry. Some employers feel that individuals possessing certificates indicating several computer skills may be of greater value to their organizations than “geniuses” with a computer degree from a top university (de Botton, 2015). In the same vein, Morgan (2015) describes the possession of skills as vital for job seekers in 2016: School is not as important as skills earned. According to Finnigan [CEO of Jobvite], ‘although a college degree remains essential, as time goes on, we will see increased acceptance of grads from modest, more inexpensive schools who have the key skills needed.’

A recent study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that students graduating with majors that are occupation specific and in demand, such as nursing and civil engineering, have the lowest unemployment rates (2% and 2.8%, respectively), whereas those with majors that are more general such as mass media have the highest unemployment rates (over 8%). Students graduating with liberal arts majors that focus on skills such as critical thinking, creativity, and communication have unemployment rates in the center at around 5.8% (Bernard, 2016). Competency-based education is the latest mantra in education and this may have a great deal to do with the focus on skills. Competency-based education measures how much was actually learned, not how much time was spent in a classroom. It is becoming apparent that the old definition of 15 hours equals one credit has become obsolete when many courses are offered fully online or as hybrids. Moreover, competency-based education focuses on the individual student and is not a “one-size fits all” approach to education. People are allowed to learn at their own pace and take as much time as they need to master the targeted knowledge and skills; credentials, of course, are not time-based. Adaptive learning technologies are also changing the obsolete belief that the only way to learn is in a traditional classroom (CCAP, 2014). Adaptive learning has been defined as: an educational method which uses computers as interactive teaching devices, and to orchestrate the allocation of human and mediated resources according to the unique needs of each learner. Computers adapt the presentation of educational material according to students’ learning needs, as indicated by their responses to questions, tasks and experiences. The technology encompasses aspects derived from various fields of study including computer science, education, psychology, and brain science (Adaptive learning, 2016).

Alssid (2016) points out that “It’s becoming increasingly clear competencies are key to aligning education and training with actual business needs.” He 106

also asserts that as of September 2015, approximately 600 colleges offer competency-based education programs. The most important characteristic of competency-based education is that it measures learning rather than time. Students progress by demonstrating their competence, which means they prove that they have mastered the knowledge and skills (called competencies) required for a particular course, regardless of how long it takes. While more traditional models can and often do measure competency, they are time-based – courses last about four months, and students may advance only after they have put in the seat time. This is true even if they could have completed the coursework and passed the final exam in half the time. So, while most colleges and universities hold time requirements constant and let learning vary, competency-based learning allows us to hold learning constant and let time vary (Mendenhall, 2012).

There was a time when academics looked down on college majors that they deemed vocational. Majors such as art history, ethnic studies, geography, or anthropology were considered more “meaningful” than majors in accounting, hospitality management, or finance. That approach has become obsolete. Today, the categorization of majors is no longer about the vocational vs. intellectual dichotomy; it is about majors that deliver skills vs. majors that do not provide skills. Although liberal arts majors are on the wane, they can be reconceived as disciplines that impart marketable skills such as critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, and communication. There is no reason to believe that business majors provide more such skills than liberal arts majors just as there is no reason to claim that liberal arts majors deliver them automatically. These skills can and should be taught in a variety of courses. For example, critical thinking can arguably be taught in courses ranging from literature, history, philosophy to mathematics and statistics, etc. There is no one discipline that “owns” critical thinking. The question as whether critical thinking is “epistemologically domain specific” and differs from discipline to discipline has been addressed by several scholars (Ennis, 1997; Friedman, Frankel, & Friedman, 2016). The same can be said for other important skills such as ethical reasoning. There is no reason that this should only be discussed in a philosophy course and hence the idea of “ethics across the curriculum” has become popular at many institutions. Graduates possessing such skills should be marketable insofar as they can be applied to any field of work.

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Adaptability is an important skill in an age where a firm that is not agile will not survive. Firms that have very inflexible business models cannot survive in the digital age. Raphan & Friedman (2014) assert: Because of an unprecedented convergence of technologies, threats to companies can come from unexpected places. Firms that want to survive must define themselves in a broad way and not limit themselves by focusing solely on customer needs. They must be ever on the alert for new areas into which they can expand, and from which threats can come.

One recruiting firm had the following to say about the ability of employees to learn and adapt: The world is changing rapidly. Globalization, the shift towards a knowledge economy and the sheer pace of technological changes are among the factors radically shifting how organisations operate. This places a premium on an employee’s ability to learn and respond to their employer’s and the market’s changing demands. As such, employers want people on their team who can adapt and learn new skills (Hays, 2014).

Think of what has happened to the newspaper industry or firms such as A&P (bankrupt after 156 years in business), Radio Shack, Blockbuster, and Borders that failed to adapt to changing realities. Not only are companies and industries disappearing, certain jobs are also endangered. Giang (2012) provides a list of 30 vanishing jobs. Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private-sector coal producer which has just declared bankruptcy, is a case in point. One wonders what top management was thinking. Signs that the coal industry was in trouble appeared years ago, with the coal sector shedding thousands of jobs for the last eight years (Miller & Jarzemsky, 2016). Peabody Energy failed to recognize and deal with shifting realities, underestimating the natural gas boom and overestimating Chinese coal consumption, and acquiring a giant Australian coal company at a time that it should have been radically downsizing. The key to success today is the ability to quickly change the business model of an organization in response to changing circumstances. Researchers at McKinsey & Company have studied organizational health and found that firms have to be flexible and move quickly because of the rapidly changing business environment (Bazigos, Smet & Gagnon, 2015). Indeed, many dominant technology companies changed their business models numerous times over the years. Friedman & Friedman (2016) provide several examples of firms that did so successfully: IBM was founded in 1896 and manufactured punch card equipment; Sony started out as a radio repair shop back in 1945; Motorola started out manufacturing car radios; and Nokia was founded as a firm with a wood pulp mill in Finland. Organizations that are not 108

flexible will have difficulty surviving in the global Internet age. By the same token, higher education needs to be open to change if it is to thrive in the digital age. What Are the Necessary Skills to Achieve Success? What are the key skills students must acquire? The American Management Association identifies them as the 4Cs: communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking (AMA, 2012). The National Education Association (NEA) came up with the same four when identifying the key skills to achieve success in college as well as the workplace (NEA, n.d.). In fact, the NEA wants to ensure that K-12 education stresses these vital skills. There are other skills needed for success in life that have been mentioned by employers as well as scholars. These include, with some overlap: ethical reasoning, character, positive attitude, empathy and compassion, informational literacy, intercultural/global competency (diversity), quantitative reasoning, computer skills (technology proficiency), effective conflict resolution, passion for lifelong learning, ability to adapt, leadership abilities, and determination/grit (Vozza, 2016; Brown, 2016; Fischer & Friedman, 2015a; Karlgaard & Malone, 2015; Adams, 2014; Berrett, 2014; Friedman, Friedman, & HamptonSosa, 2013; Wilce, 2013; Moss, 2012; Tough, 2012; Berrett, 2012; Millenial Branding and Experience, Inc., 2012; Economist Intelligent Unit, 2009). Many firms insist that colleges must work on the soft skills since disciplinary knowledge is not sufficient to succeed in the corporate world. Companies such as Google are moving away from “traditional metrics” such as G.P.A. and seeking soft skills rarely taught in college that include “leadership, humility, collaboration, adaptability, and loving to learn and relearn” (Friedman, 2014). The emphasis on developing skills has even become important even in the K-12 curriculum. According to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), students graduating from high school should have become proficient at the following skills as a “result of mastering the CCSS in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA/literacy):” communications skills (e.g., speaking, listening, messaging, etc.); teamwork/collaboration skills (e.g., working in groups, goal setting, etc.); problem-solving skills (e.g., analyzing information, evaluating solutions, etc.); reasoning skills (e.g., critical thinking, forming arguments, using logic, etc.); The application/extension of core content in various situations (e.g., modeling); use of data (e.g., evaluation, understanding structure, interpretation, etc.); research skills (e.g., gathering and analyzing information and sources, etc.); time management skills (e.g., developing goals, prioritizing tasks, etc.); and use of technology (in ELA/ literacy) (e.g., e-mail, Internet, media, etc.) (Achieve, 2012). 109

According to Vozza (2016), “Sought-after people have a good mix of hard and soft skills, and those skills are always changing because today’s business climate is in constant flux.” Salemi (2016) observes that the “skills that get students A’s aren’t traits that are desirable in most employees.” What is needed in the workplace is “a good balance of business skills and emotional intelligence.” A paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) suggests that social adeptness – the ability to work with others – will become even more important in the future. Although quantitative/computer skills are essential, they must be combined with social skills (Torres, 2015). People are saying that there is no job security in the technology workplace. It resembles a sweatshop where employees have a job for a year or two before they are asked to leave. This may have a lot to do with the fact that many employees in the tech fields have computer skills that have a short shelf life. Several technology companies use a metric known as VORP (value over replacement) to determine an employee’s worth (Lyons, 2016). Employees that bring more soft skills to the table might last longer even at the tech firms. Schwartz (2015) affirms that employers say they want students who know how to think. He posits that knowing how to think “requires the development of a set of intellectual virtues.” These intellectual truths include factors such as love of truth, honesty, fair-mindedness, humility, perseverance, courage, good listening, perspective-taking and empathy, and wisdom. He argues that if colleges focus on intellectual virtues they will help “create a work force that is flexible, able to admit to and learn from mistakes, and open to change. People with intellectual virtues will be persistent, ask for help when they need it, provide help when others need it, and not settle for expedient but inaccurate solutions to tough problems.” Repositioning Higher Education to Focus on Skills There is a persistent concern that the United States is losing its edge as a world leader in educating its citizens and students are graduating with few skills (Fischer, 2013; Blow, 2011; Arum & Roksa, 2011; Lee, 2010). The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) tests the literacy and math skills of graduates in OECD member countries throughout the world. The results show how weak American college graduates are when it comes to math and problem solving skills: only 18% score at the top two levels of numeracy. American college graduates are, at best, mediocre when it comes to literacy (Carey, 2014). Five of the ten targets to improve quality of education mentioned in the OECD (2015: 14) report have the purpose: “to ensure that they [students] acquire better and 110

more relevant knowledge and skills.” The focus on skills and competencies will not go away and educators will have to deal with it. New models for creating universities are being developed. This should come as no surprise given how slow existing institutions of higher education are to adapting to the changing business environment. It is now very easy to access resources on the Internet to learn all kinds of subjects. For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has a website called MITOpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm) that allows anyone to find the materials from more than 2,200 courses offered by MIT. Professors at other colleges are encouraged to use these to create their own courses: “Through OCW, educators improve courses and curricula, making their schools more effective; students find additional resources to help them succeed; and independent learners enrich their lives and use the content to tackle some of our world’s most difficult challenges, including sustainable development, climate change, and cancer eradication.” Christine Ortiz, a Dean at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is leaving her job to start a new kind of institution of higher learning that “will have no majors, no lectures, and no classrooms.” She also adds that there will be no departments – everything will be transdisciplinary – and no tenure for faculty. All knowledge acquisition will be done using online materials (Young, 2016). We tend to forget that dinosaurs did not disappear because they were frail and scrawny; they disappeared because they could not adapt. Institutions of higher education have no choice but to adapt to changing conditions and focus on skills and competencies. It is no longer about creating more and more academic departments which is a way of creating more silos. There is a good reason that silo busting has become an important management goal. Silos breed tribalism and a refusal to collaborate and share knowledge. On the academic scene, siloism results in the department becoming more important than the survival of the organization (Tett, 2015). The academic department structure itself encourages a silo mentality with its inevitable turf battles and discourages interdisciplinary work and collaboration. Every college course should be evaluated on the basis of skills and competencies delivered. Augustana College has been a pioneer in the area of ensuring that individual courses are not taught as self-contained pursuits of knowledge but rather as part of an overall program to teach critical competencies and skills, which the college calls learning outcomes. Every single course taught at Augustana College has to develop at least one of nine learning outcomes. Even a course in golf is taught with two learning outcomes, ethics and leadership, in mind (Berrett, 2014). The same should be done with majors. Students majoring in subjects such as anthropology, geography, and mass media might be looking at jobless 111

rates of more than 8% (Bernard, 2016), but that might be due to the fact that the skills delivered in these majors are not marketable. Rather than creating more schools and departments, administrators should be ensuring that more valuable skills are introduced into courses and majors. Courses should not be evaluated on the basis of content alone. One of the problems with building departments around popular occupations is that the job market keeps changing and hence an occupation that is in great demand today may be obsolete in 5 or 10 years. It was not that long ago that demand for COBOL programmers was in great demand (remember the Y2K problem). Intuit recently sold Quicken, a personal finance management tool. Goel (2016) asserts that “Intuit is a classic case of a one-time disruptor being challenged by an upstart with a new approach and a simpler product.” The newcomer is Xero that offers an online accounting system that can be used with a smartphone. Intuit also had to overhaul its Quickbooks Online software product to avoid financial catastrophe. According to analysts, “A willingness to change course is one of the company’s biggest strengths” (Goel, 2016). When it comes to institutions of higher learning, one might say: “The lack of willingness to change course is one of academe’s biggest weaknesses.” Outcomes Assessment The kind of skills and competencies that have to be built into courses are “definable, measurable, and have the longest shelf life so that employees and employers see tremendous value from their investments” (Alssid, 2016). Thus, the focus has to be on how much knowledge/skills have been acquired by students and the primary purpose of assessment is to support and improve student learning. Assessment done correctly should be part of a system of continuous improvement of the curriculum that provides essential information about program effectiveness, strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum, and where to apply resources. Without assessment, higher education will continue to be criticized by key stakeholders such as politicians and parents of students that most programs of study, especially in the liberal arts and humanities areas, are a waste of taxpayer funds. Indeed, most academic institutions are concerned with outcomes assessment or assessment of learning, with 84% of colleges having established learning goals for students. A typical institution uses five different approaches to assess student success, the most popular of which is student surveys (Berrett, 2014a). But it is not only about student learning; new metrics are being used by schools across the country to measure faculty productivity as well. Whether assessment works or is a waste of time is debatable. Gilbert (2015) maintains that if there were evidence that such assessment provided some real value such as enhancing a college’s reputation or providing skills 112

that make it easier for students to find jobs, faculty might be more supportive of it. Gilbert (2015) states: “We should no longer accept on faith or intuition that learning-outcomes assessment has positive and consequential effects on our institutions – or students.” In fact, many faculty members are of the opinion that reviewing course syllabi on a regular basis or surveying students a few years after they graduate will accomplish as much as learning-outcomes assessment at a fraction of the cost. At many colleges, assessment means that more bureaucrats being hired for yet another possibly meaningless task. Many institutions of higher learning are hiring deans in charge of assessment at a very substantial salary. Business schools that are interested in pursuing AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accreditation will normally hire two or three administrators whose major job is assessment. Problems with Assessment Aside from the cost of hiring administrators (or even deans) whose job is to conduct assessments, assessment efforts must deal with the issue of with finding or developing instruments for the purpose of assessment. Friedman & Raphan (2013) affirm that: When statistics are used to evaluate educational institutions, it can create an unhealthy incentive to engage in practices that will inflate their ratings. These practices can be expensive, and may not actually create value for students. This raises the question of how much these metrics are driving schools to improve, versus how much they are driving schools to artificially inflate the numbers.

In addition, institutions creating their own instruments that have not been tested for validity or reliability for the purpose of assessment are intrinsically problematic. Many colleges game the system by only assessing outcomes which are easier to measure or easier to manipulate. After all, the goal is usually to convince the accrediting agencies that the “loop has been closed” and a system is in place to continuously improve the curriculum. It is not about finding ways to improve skills of students, but about ways to convince accreditors that a system is in place for this purpose. Friedman & Raphan (2013) demonstrate that law schools have been among the worst abusers of the system of rankings and doing everything possible to inflate their ratings even to the detriment of true quality.

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Simplest Way to Assess Learning The simplest way to assess learning would be to use standardized, validated instruments. One example of such an instrument is Educational Testing Service’s Proficiency Profile, which purports to measure the critical thinking, mathematics, reading, and writing skills of college students. The ETS® Proficiency Profile assesses four core skill areas – critical thinking, reading, writing and mathematics – in a single, convenient test that the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) has selected as a gauge of general education outcomes. Plus, get greater insight into your students’ writing skills with a direct and authentic measure of their ability to construct a response by adding an essay to the ETS Proficiency Profile assessment (ETS, 2016).

ETS’ instrument and its system to motivate students to do their best on these exams are highly preferable to the creation of assessment instruments by individual colleges. This is how ETS describes its approach: ETS research confirms that students’ motivation in taking learning outcomes assessments has a significant impact on their test performance. In order to help you motivate students to perform their best and increase participation, ETS offers performance-level certificates for students taking the online Standard form of the ETS® Proficiency Profile. These new certificates can provide students with motivation to do well, which ultimately helps institutions to better position themselves for accreditation and performance funding. Plus, since these certificates are electronic, students can share them with an unlimited number of recipients in academia and beyond. Each performance level is clearly defined on the certificate and includes a description of the Reading, Writing, Mathematics and Critical Thinking skills typically demonstrated by individuals scoring at each level (ETS, 2016).

Colleges should use validated instruments such as the ETS Proficiency Profile and provide students with certificates to ensure proper motivation. There is nothing magical about the ETS approach but it offers institutions a simple tool to measure performance in general skills. The Ideal Accounting Curriculum: Disciplinary Knowledge Plus Skills Academics in liberal arts areas tend to denigrate majors they consider as vocational. Let us examine one major that appears to focus only on content and purportedly provides few of the above-mentioned skills, accounting. Viewed as a purely vocation-oriented major, accounting is one of the disci114

plines most held in contempt by liberal arts faculty. In fact, one of the authors heard a top college administrator say “We cringe at the thought of more accountants in our college.” Admittedly, accounting courses have to focus on content that students must acquire in order to pass the CPA exam. But this does not absolve the accounting discipline from delivering a wide range of critical skills along with the accounting content. Fischer & Friedman (2015b) posit that “The discipline of accounting has increased in scope and importance from its traditional ‘bean counter’ image. In the post Sarbanes-Oxley world, accounting is not only the ‘language of business’ but also the ‘conscience of an organization.’” According to the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA): Serving as the conscience of an organization is one facet of the internal auditor’s function. A strong sense of ethics is required to fulfill this responsibility. Like any skill or ability, a strong sense of ethics requires training and understanding (Putra, 2010).

Hence, to function as considerably more than “bean counters,” accountants must master a number of the key skills discussed above: communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, ethical reasoning, character, positive attitude, empathy and compassion, informational literacy, intercultural/global competency (diversity), quantitative reasoning, computer skills (technology proficiency), effective conflict resolution, passion for lifelong learning, ability to adapt, leadership abilities, and determination/grit. As the one who serves as the conscience of an organization, the ideal accountant must wield a variety of competencies, which must include ethics, empathy, respect for diversity, informational literacy, and critical thinking skills. It is not difficult to embed several of these critical skills into accounting courses. The easiest way to accomplish this is to use online materials that are available all over the Internet. Ethics can and should be made an important part of every accounting course, not just auditing. Many of the major bankruptcies that occurred over the last few decades were due to accounting fraud. There is a website that describes “The 10 Worst Corporate Accounting Scandals of all Time” (http://www.accounting-degree.org/scandals/). The SEC filed 99 accounting-fraud investigations (a 46% increase from the previous year) in the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2014; and in 2015, they started more than 100 investigations (Eaglesham & Rapoport, 2015). Cantoria (2010) lists ten major accounting scandals that significantly altered the corporate world and asserts: “In the midst of all these accounting anomalies, the accountancy profession and the role it plays came into focus. Accountants helped in misleading the public by certifying that the financial reports of fraudulent companies were true and correct.” Communication is another skill needed by accountants. Accountants do not necessarily have to excel at writing research papers in literature, but should be proficient in business writing. Some writing can easily be incorporated 115

into almost all accounting courses. Making presentations is another valuable communication skill essential in the business world that can be honed in accounting courses. Critical thinking is yet another skill that accounting courses must impart. According to Dyer (2011: 2), “critical thinking is an approach to reading, thinking, and learning that involves asking questions, examining our assumptions, and weighing the validity of arguments.” Critical thinkers are “selfaware, curious, and independent. They introspect on their own thinking processes; they work at knowing their own biases and can name the strategies they are using when they make judgments (self-aware).” These abilities are important for any businessperson. Certainly accountants whose advice is sought on far more than simple accounting questions need this ability. The same is true of informational literacy, quantitative reasoning, computer skills, as well as knowing how to deal with all kinds of people. These are aptitudes that are essential in all business fields, and particularly in accounting. Moreover, the ability to acquire new information and adapt to new rules is crucial to successful accounting. In any case, skills can and should be built into even the most vocational of courses. Conclusion Academe has a reputation for being “notorious for adjusting slowly to change” (CCAP, 2014). It is becoming apparent that higher education has to respond to the wake-up call and change course quickly: It is time to focus on skills and competencies. The job of educators is to see courses as a means of delivering content as well as a whole gamut of vital skills. Even vocation oriented programs such as nursing, speech therapy, physical therapy, and accounting have to do more than simply teach the “tools of the trade.” The most successful nurses, therapists, and accountants will possess soft skills as well as the disciplinary competencies. One would think that storytelling is a skill of no value in any occupation. Gallo (2016) states that storytelling skills are important in the business world. In fact, Peter Guber, CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group, was once trying to convince the mayor of Las Vegas to provide funding to support a new baseball stadium. He realized that the PowerPoint presentations filled with numbers were not doing the trick. It occurred to him that if you want to persuade others, a good story is more effective. The following quote from Guber says it all: “Stories have a unique power to move people’s hearts, minds, feet, and wallets in the storyteller’s intended direction” (Gallo, 2016: 56–57). Storytelling has been found to be a useful tool in getting employees to be engaged; it is a simple way to teach new employees about the purpose 116

of the company (Knowledge@Wharton, 2016). Godin (2005) feels that successful marketing is about telling good stories. The academic bias against what they considered preparing young people for jobs has also adversely affected vocational education. The mantra of “college for all” can actually hurt young students who would do better working in a blue collar job that pays well. According to Newman & Winston (2016): there are hundreds of thousands of ‘middle skill’ jobs in the United States that are – or soon will be – going unfilled because of a dearth of qualified workers. Employers complain that electricians, pipe fitters, advanced manufacturing machinists, brick masons, and radiology technicians are scarce. More than 600,000 jobs remain open in the manufacturing sector alone. These are jobs that provide a middle-class wage without a traditional four-year college degree (Newman & Winston, 2016).

There should be a commitment to technical training for students at both the high school and community college levels. Technical training should also be combined with apprenticeship training. One state has been doing this: There are 120,000 high school students in Ohio in vocational programs (Newman & Winston, 2016). There is no reason for educators to look askance at vocational training and insist on college for everyone. Moreover, even vocational training should include the above-mentioned skills so that young people in blue-collar jobs are resilient and adaptable and can move up to better jobs. Jeffrey Pfeffer (1998) posits that the “right way to hire is to focus on skills you don’t know how to train, and trust that you can teach the skills you do know how to train.” The ideal university ensures that all courses regardless of discipline work together to enhance the skills of students, especially those skills that employers are unable to teach. This ensures that students will be resilient and productive regardless of how often the job changes. Furthermore, these skills are precisely what is needed for intellectual stimulation, ethical values, and integrity. REFERENCES Achieve, Inc. (2012), “Understanding the Skills in the Common Core State Standards,” Achieve.org. http://www.achieve.org/Skills-CCSS Adams, S. (2014, November 12), “The 10 Skills Employers Most Want in 2015 Graduates,” Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/ 2014/11/12/the-10-skills-employers-most-want-in-2015-graduates/ Adaptive learning (2016, April 15), In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adaptive_learning&oldid=7153 40780 Alssid, J. (2016, January 20), “5 Best Practices for Building a Competency-based Education Program,” Association for Talent Development. Retrieved from https:// 117

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