We read in media accounts of all sorts that in certain professions and industries that certain employers are finding it extremely difficult or even impossible to find qualified candidates to fulfill open jobs. In many situations, these employers are utilizing experienced workers that have previously retired in order to stem somewhat their shortfall. It would be one thing if that shortfall was because there weren't enough PhD candidates, or other highly educated post secondary graduates, available for these jobs, but in actuality, the United States has the strongest university system in the world, and churns out graduate after graduate each and every year. Instead, the problem seems to basically be that there is way too much of disconnect between post secondary education or even trade schools and the whole educational process and purpose.
While there are a lot of absolutely valid reasons to attend a university, one of the most salient ones, is to actually find employment in the profession that the graduate has gotten their degree in, or a close approximation to it. Clearly, based on the situation in which there are an incredible amount of people working at low-end or dead end jobs that have graduate degrees, while on the other hand, there are a fair amount of jobs, that simply can't be filled, because the qualifications and the experience as necessary are not in existence, indicates that the haphazard way that too many people go about their education and their trade school admission, is clearly dysfunctional.
In point of fact, there are a lot of problems with the way that people are educated and trained for professions in this country, of which, fundamentally the very biggest problem is that education should as often as possible, be combined with hands on training in a real world environment that is germane to the subject or major so being taught. That is to say, an Art major should have an internship or apprenticeship with a business or industry that has something to do with Art. So too, someone that desires to be an electrician should be training under an experience electrician in the real world, while receiving their trade education, and so on and so forth.
That is to say, while it's understandable that a student might take a job serving tables at a restaurant, or driving a car for Uber; but if that type of work has little or nothing to do with what they are applying themselves to achieve in life, it would be far better if their time was spent in the real world, performing duties that are going to be in harmony with their actual degree or trade. This signifies that governments, government contractors, and private enterprise employers need to work in conjunction with students at an age of no later than sixteen years of age, of which, through objective testing of aptitude, students and their talents will be discerned, and thereby decisions are made at that age, as to what is a good fit for those students, in order to achieve gainful employment, and consequently a course of action created for students that concentrates on those talents, with an apprenticeship or internship with employers to build up their experience and knowhow, and hence upon graduation to be able to hit the ground, running.
This should not be taken that students should not be allowed to choose their own path; it merely reflects that in an age in which false starts and false paths can lead to monstrous student debt, despair, and dreams crushed, that this government, its educational system, its trade schools, and employers of all stripes, need to seriously work together with students as a cohesive whole, because often those that are good enough to graduate with one degree, are going to be good enough to graduate with another degree that may well serve them and society a whole lot better.