"One generation passeth away and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth forever." Ecclesiastes 1:4.
Applied research takes place in context and is influenced, if not dependent, on the social and developmental events affecting the target of our research: the future students who may or may not pass through our institutions. This article introduces you to Tyler, Megan, and Alex, three students who could attend your institution in 2010. Through their experiences, we will gain a snapshot of who our students in the early 21st century might be; the type of educational experience they might be seeking; and the structure of the workplace they might expect to enter. This travel adventure will hopefully stimulate our thoughts toward new, exciting research questions or enrich the research that currently engages us. The next decade will be full of challenges; challenges that co-op education is well positioned to help in overcoming.
Year 1996: On a sunny morning in early September, the first day of school for .first graders in a suburban Midwest city, T._vler, Megan and Alex are excited about what their classroom and teacher hold in store for the year. These students gush with enthusiasm about their future. T._vler animatedly describes how he is going to be a police officer or an X-file person because they get to do weird things. Megan confidently states she wants to be a doctor just like her mom while Alex says she is not quite sure what she wants to be but she likes to play on the Web and thinks it would be neat to m.ake computer games. These careers are typical by today's standards; but ask them what their jobs will be like: "We will use computers with CD's and other neat stuff," chirps Alex. These students are already familiar with the Internet; Megan even uses e-mail to write her brother who is in college. Tyler wants to work at home like his dad whose company now has virtual offices. Megan stated, "Helping lots of people who cannot afford medicine," was important to her. As you observe their classroom throughout this day, you see how much attention the teacher gives each child; how willingly they accept different types of people; and how they like to do new things. The classroom is a center of cooperative, team-centered learning where risk-taking is encouraged. Classmates' mutual support sustains individual efforts. As Fulgrum (1988) observed several years ago, ki11de1garte111111d first grade are where the skills to survive the 21st centw; workplace are being taught and practiced.
Who are these kids? Known as the Millennial generation (born between 1981 and 2000), these kids share an identity with Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Kennedy, Walt Disney and Ronald Reagan. According to Strauss and Howe (1991), peer generations share a collective life around family, sex roles, politics, religion, lifestyle and the future. What Millennial children share with Thomas Jefferson and the others who emerged in similar generations across U.S. history is a strong sense of community and civic pride. The civic title, given by Strauss and Howe, to these generations reflects the crowning mid-life achievements these generations have enjoyed regarding science and technology, government, and public institutions (i.e., the interstate highway system).
Distinctive events, both personal and societal, influence the behavioral development of individuals during the different phases of their lives. Common characteristics that Strauss and Howe (1991) observed through history define a civic generation: by definition a civic cohort grows up as increasingly protected youths after a spiritual awakening that for Tyler, Alex and Megan was the conscious raising 1960's; they come of age as teenagers during a secular crisis often a war or economic crisis; the generation becomes united into a heroic and achieving cadre of adults (ages 22- 43) in their overcoming of a major national crisis; they sustain this united, Herculean image while building institutions as powerful mid-lifers; and finally respected elders, they come under increasing attack by the next spiritual (inward) awakening, idealistic youth. Terms commonly associated with civics would include: optimistic, collegial, competent, team players, and achievement-oriented.
As children their personal and collective personalities will be strongly influenced by the cultural, social and individual values of the powerful, inward focused Boomer generation who are now in control of the country. The inward focused Boomers are concerned with religion (spiritual growth), education, and principals (values) in myriad combinations. Thirteeners, the generation between the Boomers and Millennial youth, while alienated by Boomer attitudes and agenda, will go along with the agenda as they are very concerned about their children.
Millennial children are viewed as special but their environment is perceived as dangerous (TV, streets, schools); thus, safety is a top priority. As parents push for greater safety and protection in their communities and schools, stricter nurturing practices can be expected. Police and the judiciary will increase their diligence and efforts to curb child abuse, enforce child custody arrangements, and eliminate juvenile crime. Parental expectations for these children, described as dutiful and smart, will be high. This singular attention, preferred treatment, and lofty expectations will lay the grormdwork, Strauss and Howe contend, for the Millennial generation's potentially powerful, collective mission - cleaning up and rebuilding the outer world that the Boomers have tended to ignore.
Education at all levels will be invariably changed by the demands of Millennial parents to prepare their children to survive in the 21st century. Emphasis will be placed on core competencies in mathematics, science, language arts (reading and writing), and social studies. Battles will be fought over content and the degree of diversity contained in curricular offerings. Curricula will be driven by technology, primarily multimedia computer systems that can capitalize on individual learning styles. For better or worse, standardized tests, both at the national and state levels, will assume greater importance as indicators of performance. Endorsed high school diplomas will be the norm with employers and public higher educational institutions being coerced to hire or admit only students with endorsements. A closer association between a college degree and employment will emerge on the heels of universal school-to-work programs in the high schools. Some parents and many students will extend this association to an entitlement whereby earning a college degree entitles its bearer to equivalent employment. Faculty will feel threatened by this apparent vocationalization of college education across the disciplines.
The Thirteen generation influenced by niche product and service marketing operationalized the 1990's customer credo: customized, just in time, convenient products or services. Marketing efforts will build on this concept even more strongly for Millennial youth. Tyler, Megan and Alex will bring to their purchase of educational services and concept of work, a just-in-time, tailored-to-individual-needs-and-expectations mentality.
Other developments, expected throughout the 1990's, which will shape this country's youth include (Strauss and Howe, 1991):
According to Strauss and Howe, societal and individual emphasis during this period will shift from lifestyle tolerance, economic opportunity, and process-protected fairness to ethical absolutes, commrmity values, and accormtability in public. Younger Thirteeners, those age 14 to 25, today, and those without children (26 to 35) will remain alienated from these strong ethical absolutes and try to temper Boomer value changes, particularly those that directly affect them.
As Millennial youth graduate from high school and take on the responsibilities of young adults (22-43), they will have observed and faced secular crises. Historically, civic youth observe major social or civil disturbances that often do not directly require their involvement. For the first civic generation who arrived during their youth in North America, it was the pervasive religious intolerance throughout Europe that forced their parents to leave; for the civic youth before the Revolutionary War, it was the French and Indian Wars that intruded on their families and communities; and the generation born during the early years of the 20th century, World War I and prohibition framed their earliest experiences. The exception to this pattern occurred during the mid-1800's when the Civil War eliminated the civic generation from the sequence. Strauss and Howe contend that the Civil War came too early when the country was controlled by a conformist generation who could not control the emotions and moral self-righteousness of young, idealistic adults. The result was poor policies that led to a premature war.
Observing these events prepared civic youth for their role during their 20's and 30's when their country would call upon them to resolve a major secular crisis: the Glorious Revolution, the American Revolution, and the depression and World War IL Their involvement in these struggles would create a generation with strong peer relationships, instinctive team players and a universally accepted code of conduct, as well as a strong sense of community. For the contributions and sacrifices they make, civics will receive public praise and substantial rewards. Having achieved success in these efforts (at least, historically, they always have), they move forward with a strong achievement-oriented ethic.
A possible negative side may emerge because civics expect human relationships to be well defined (Strauss and Howe, 1991). In earlier civic generations, gender roles have widened and become distinctive, as the backlash to "Rosie the Riviter" and images of the 1950's attest. This shift will run into a potential roadblock erected by Boomer and Thirteen women who have invested heavily in closing gender distinctions.
A nation's elders and parents do not intentionally plan a war for their youth to fight (at least we hope not). Yet, civic youth and young adults have historically faced serious secular strife. Strauss and Howe argue that the year 2003 marks the beginning of a critical period where Americans overwhelmed by the fragmentation in their lives (social and private) feel that they are headed into a wilderness. This type of situation is susceptible to outward directed conflict. This scenario is similar to experiences in 1673, 1766, 1855 and 1924 where polarization occurred among the older generations, leading to strife. Strauss and Howe anticipate that between 2010 and 2015 a similar crisis will occur.
We can only anticipate the possibilities, no matter how distasteful that might be. Certainly the increasing economic inequality caused by the transformation of the economy will have set in motion serious social issues, similar to those experienced in England in the early 1800's. Other economic situations could arise from a prolonged fiscal crisis or trade wars. While a major conflagration among nations is not impossible, terrorism in its increasing multiple forms (nuclear, germ, or chemical) can set in motion a series of secular crises. Potential revolutionary elements or pugnacious third world fundamentalists could precipitate a major war on a much larger scale than Kuwait. Besides war and economic chaos, environmental catastrophes, including outbreaks of deadly viruses, ozone depletion, or AIDS could threaten large segments of the population. Finally, there could be a backlash to the rapid intrusion of technology into all aspects of our lives that is reminiscent of the Luddites in 19th century England. Among these possibilities are challenges that the Millennial generation will have to deal with in order to play their generational role in our story.
After several decades of challenging youth (it was meant to be), Millennial youth with their friendly, optimistic, team-playing attitude will be a joy for educators and employers. Their realistic perspectives and public determination will be eagerly accepted and capitalized upon, especially during their mid-life (late 30's through 60's) when they are in control of the country. Millennias will distinguish themselves as builders and doers while defending a conformist culture. Their vigor and confidence will extend their involvement in national life well beyond traditionally accepted norms for a generation abdicating to a younger generation. Of course they are expected to lay the grmmdwork among their children who will represent the next idealist generation. Thus, the circle will be complete.
Year 2010: Alex, Tyler and Megan have successfully completed high school but in very different ways. Tyler, though he earned B's, was constrained by the structure of the high school classroom. He qualified in the 10th grade for an apprenticeship program in industrial engineering and design with a local automotive firm. After simultaneously completing plwse one of the apprenticeship and high school in 2008, Tyler was offered a position with the automotive firm and also accepted into th1: master appr1:ntice program. Being accepted in the master's program allowed Tyler to jointly enroll in a bachelor's program sponsored by the company. Three regional colleges and universities have combined to provide courses in the factory or through interactive computer/electronic mediums that means that Tyler will not have to matriculate to any of the three campuses. Having never lost his passion for police work, Tyler is also taking evening courses in criminal justice at the police academy associated with the local community college. In 2013 Tyler will receive his bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering, his master's apprenticeship rating, and his associates degree in police science. He will receive a salary of $58,000 with the automotive firm and serve as a deputy county sheriff on the weekends . Alex's ....computer creativity led to her to design a computer game in the 9th grade that she successfully sold through the high school's young entrepreneurs club. By the end of 10th grade, Alex met all requirements for dual enrollment at the community college where she elected to pursue a multimedia design degree. Alex planned to enroll at the public university after graduating in 2008 with her two degrees. However, a rapidly growing multimedia firm, a spin-off from Microsoft, approached her with an exciting offer. Since Bill Gates who did not have a college degree was her idol, she was enticed by the opportunity. Shortly after starting work, she regretted her decision because she really wanted to experience college. Her company came up with a unique arrangement, a reverse co-op where she would remain a full-time employee with rotating leave of absences for the purpose of attending alternate semesters at a residential public college. The company would reimburse 75 per cent of the college tuition and room and board and provide a stipend of 15 per cent of her salary for living expenses (Alex would retain all health and other company benefits, but no salary, while attending classes). Since Alex will be able to take continuing education and workshops on advanced techniques in multimedia design while she is working, she decided to pursue a degree in two areas she really enjoyed: economic anthropology and Victorian literature . Megan, still interested in human health, felt she needed to attend college as much for her social development as obtaining academic skills. She enrolled in a small liberal arts school in the health and humanities program. Each morning at 7:00 a.m. Megan logs onto her home page to set her day's agenda. On a typical day her math professor has returned her homework with several suggestions on alternative ways to solve several problems and included the interactive tutorial for the day. After reviewing the tutorial topic, she decides to attend the 11 :00 a.m. lecture. Between 8:45 and 10:30 she is scheduled to participate in the elder care program at a nearby senior citizen center; an activity that is part of her program's service learning commitment. She also has her physical education class after lunch. Megan decides to skip her German class at 2 p.m. to participate in a discussion with her advisor and 15 peers on the role of women's health care in third world countries. It is now 7:30 a.m.; she shifts URL sites to her European history class being taught in German by faculty at the University of Heidleburg to 11 group of international students through internctive medin. As clnss ends, her e-mail prompt signals a new message from the co-op coordinator confirming their 4:00 p.m. meeting to discuss the logistics of her international co-op assignment with an Eastern European HMO with joint enrollment at the University of Prague's Human Health program. After the meeting she has enough time for dinner before attending her microbiology lab that is team-taught by a residential faculty member and two faculty at prominent research universities who use interactive TV Megan has found the level of academic rigor and choice she wants, as well as a variety of social options. Her 2012 graduation plans call for a 2-year Peace Corps experience in China (alternative medical practices) followed by medical school.
The moniker given our new economic age, the knowledge age or knowledge society (Drucker, 1994), suggests that well-educated individuals will be in high demand, especially as symbolic analysts (Reich, 1991) who process and use the knowledge being generated. Yet, many higher education institutions, especially public ones, appear to be heading in the opposite direction. States have reordered their priorities with education less favored. According to Butterfield (1995), many states budget revenues equally, sometimes favoring, between prisons and public higher education. California serves frequently as an example: each sector receives approximately 9.5% of the state budget. Higher education also keeps turning out more graduates following traditional practices that fail to account for the global nature of the economy and the shape new organizations are taking to remain competitive (Synder, 1996). Forecasters who observe emerging trends are skeptical that higher education is well-positioned to prepare Tyler, Alex and Megan for the future they face.
For some educational institutions, the consequences are evident. Their infrastructure has begun to crumble from delayed maintenance while facing obsolescence from emerging delivery systems. Their tuition increases have continued at rates above inflation in order to support faculty in myriad of programs that critics contend duplicate offerings at neighboring universities and colleges. Their curricular outcomes have failed to demonstrate increased value-added to the degree earned.
With the new economy has also come a customer mentality for justin-time, customized, convenient and less costly (with no corresponding decrease in quality) services that is now knocking at higher education's door. West (1996) identifies a number of challenges to higher education as faculty and administrators come to grips with this transformation. Foremost is the confusion over who the student of 2010 is. Higher education hesitates, if not totally resists, viewing students as clients. Instead a package geared toward a residential experience for adolescents is the standard fare. However, between 1970 and 1993, the proportion of students 40 years and older on college campuses or enrolling in their courses has doubled (Chronicle of Higher Education, 1996). Even more pronounced has been the increase in part-time students, as well as students who enroll, drop-out, and re-enroll regularly. The educational needs of tomorrow have no beginning and have no end. The Latin root of gradis, the base word for graduation, means moving to a higher level of responsibility; not an endpoint too often associated with the ceremony. Education will occur in spurts as an individual's needs change: some will seek a cluster of specific courses to augment or develop certain skills/ competencies while others might seek short periods of campus residential life to gain appropriate social and developmental experiences. Clients will reject the "one-size-fits-all" mentality wanting to customize their college courses.
Customization will go further than merely putting together a program. Individual learning styles will dictate how knowledge will be accessed and processed. Currently no adequate performance indicators exist that capture educational performance in customized arrangements; rather, indicators such as credits earned, seat time, and formal class presentations, meet the convenience of faculty and administrators but fail to capture value added. As independent learning styles, especially experienced-based opportunities, pervade higher education, competency-based indicators will become much more prevalent. West believes the "result will be a learning paradigm customized to individual needs and tastes rather than standardized to faculty interests and institutional convenience" (p. 4).
This shift in performance indicators comes at a time when accreditation has focused institutions on being more accountable for following-up clients to determine their success after graduation. Many institutions have scurried to identify minimal acceptable efforts to meet these requirements; but few incentives have been incorporated to sustain efforts after accreditation has been received. State legislatures have pressed for additional accountability using available employment records. Florida has led the way with occupational identifier program (FETPIP, 1990). This program was established to provide accountability for educational programs and to address concerns about the labor market entry for new graduates. Brandt (1996) has demonstrated a similar program in Texas; one of several states that has followed Florida's lead. In these cases feedback is also obtained (often limited) from employers. Schools without adequate feedback from graduates and employers run the risk of missing strategic realignments by employers and fail to capture economic changes that may require new skills and competencies from graduates (Synder, 1996).
Ford Motor Company has instituted a new recruiting process that taps into a broader array of skills. Two equally important recruiting steps identify candidates with (1) the academic content skills required by the company and (2) the people and personal skills (interpersonal communication, teamwork, leadership and personal management) necessary for success in Ford's culture. The first is achieved traditionally through review of resumes with selection based on academic performance and career related work experience. The interpersonal skill ratings are obtained from a simulation exercise that establishes response tendencies in various workplace situations. Successful candidates are more likely to have opportunities to gain relevant career experiences and time to reflect on the influence of these experiences on their education (vice versa).
The college labor market is now global in structure. Graduates from the University of Michigan no longer simply compete with Stanford, MIT and Michigan State University graduates for positions with Fortune 500 and other American-based companies. College educated workers from Calcutta, Kiev, and Jerusalem are just as likely to be competing for the same positions as American graduates. Higher education's response must go beyond traditional attempts based on integrated, partnered teaching to curricular shifts that reflect a different mix of skills and competencies and learning styles. Synder (1996) contends that higher education must add more value to the degree experience (p.4). This added value may well provide the edge American graduates need to remain competitive in their careers.
College has always been place and time dependent: a residential college runs on set terms, often with no courses ( or a very limited offering) in the summer. The curriculum is standardized even though students can build a major from an array of predetermined selections. The learning mode is passive where the instructors introduce knowledge and put on the performance. This performance takes place in a class setting often with limited opportunities for group or kinetic activities. New and emerging educational experiences are becoming independent of place and time. Distance learning, virtual programs, and experiential education will find advocates among students with active learning styles (doing or kinetic learning is the most pervasive learning style among the general population), following individualized, self-paced modules. Group learning will take on increased importance and will occur in both the workplace and educational institutions using customized courses.
Just-in-time, customized learning will require virtual libraries plus partnerships with employers where theoretical and practical learning can take place side by side. New approaches to delivering information, accessing sources, and integrating knowledge will be demanded throughout the educational system. Wider opportunities to use virtual learning, in conjunction with traditional distance learning options, will gain acceptance among institutions willing to share faculty and develop new learning vehicles.
On the non-academic side of campus, changes are also required. Since the 1950's, student services have focused on activities and programs to meet the needs of students' social development and to support underrepresented students of color, sexual orientation, and disabilities. The future portends an increased emphasis on these roles as students appear to have a variety of developmental needs; moreover the population of underserved students continues to grow. The delivery of these services has traditionally been through a labor-intensive, one-on-one system that is having difficulty adjusting to or an unwillingness to adopt information technology: the best service is still perceived as personal and direct. There are two problems with this approach: first, it is costly and second it fails to bridge the gap between academics and student development. West, however, challenges that students' real need is career and academic, not social. This does not mean that the effort is simply the placement of students during their senior year; rather, a concerted effort is needed by both faculty and support staff to integrate academic preparation and realistic career plans.
The road ahead for higher education to meet the needs of Megan, Tyler, and Alex is marked by constant challenges. Parents and students will come with different expectations (more relevancy with greater linkage between degree and employment). The skills and competencies to be developed will be broader. Snyder (1996) cites a 1995 Census Bureau report that found that employers lack confidence "about the value of a college education in preparing young people for the workplace (p. 5)." If higher education falters in meeting the challenges, then other groups, such as Microsoft with its aggressive educational partnerships to provide curricula; Disney with its university; and AT&T, which has the capability to develop multimedia educational offerings, are all positioned to step forward to provide a just-in-time, customized, quality product at a cost lower than residential options.
Year 2015: Alex has recently moved into the position of development director for educational multimedia projects that reduce the traveling she has been doing and allows her to spend more time with her three-month-old baby. In fact Alex has a virtual office at home and is required to be at company only on Monday and Friday afternoons. Her husband who u10rks in the company's marketing unit has a more traditional 9 to 5 office job though he can work at home if he chooses (he finds he needs the camaraderie of the workplace to motivate him). The company has on-site day care for the days Alex is in her office; in fact, the company offers a travel nanny for those times Alex must travel so she can take her baby. Alex is required to work 40 hour weeks but has the flexibility when to work. She, like many designers, enjoys working odd hours so she often chooses to work from 4:00 to 8:00 a.m. and in the evening from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. when quiet reigns. On days she keeps this schedule, she volunteers in the afternoon at the local high school teaching computer classes. Occasionally Alex will work longer to meet important deadlines. Unlike her father who consistently worked 60 to 70 hour weeks while she was growing up, however, she refuses to take time away from her family and community. She strives to maintain balance in her lffe. Megan is now in medical school in a family practice program with a specialty in holistic medicine. She expects her practice will differ significantly from her recently retired mother. Already her education has. The "Virtual Human" (Recer, 1996) allows Megan's classriiates to study details of the human body, practice dissection, train for complicated procedures, and diagnose rare diseases without even touching a patient or specimen. The National Library of Medicine has developed a virtual curriculum that allows students and doctors a wide range of options in their instructional methods. Megan expects similar technological changes in her practice at an HMO in a blighted urban area near her hometown. Tyler works on a joint Asian and American development team responsible for designing an engine component for a new sports car to be sold in China. No one directly manages this team though they have established a specific timetable and objectives with a status report to the product manager each week. Tyler works about 48 hours a week in four day cycles; one week his team works evenings and the next days so that no team member has to consistently work evenings. The reason is that design work is being conducted simultaneously with team members in Asia. Tyler has learned Chinese so the dialogue can go smoothly, even though the Chinese communicate in fluent English. This project is scheduled to end in 18 months and Tyler already has his sights set on moving to a new project with Latin American and European team members. To land this position, he needs to have an ability in nonlinear time series forecasting. While he obtained some basic skills in his current position, Tyler has enrolled in a series of weekend courses at the university, especially designed for this project. T._yler and two close associates are also considering spinning off from the parent company to form a development company that could more effectively use special robotics equipment Tyler has designed to process a unique exhaust manffold. T._yler knows he has to have several options available to him as his company has continued to downsize and rely more on strategic alliances for manpower. Several of his friends have already worked on five different projects with three different employers; two have even made complete career changes within three years of receiving their degrees.
Early in the 21st century, the transformation of the economy from an industrial society to a knowledge-based one will be complete. The wrenching disruption and dislocation that affected so many workers during the 1990's will have subsided to a natural rhythm of ebbs and flows. Nonethe-less, sophisticated computer-based technologies, processes, and knowledge generators continue to influence workplace organizations and job responsibilities. Computers augment and replace humans in six ways, according to Howard (1995, p.89):
The most obvious change Verity (1994) identified with the introduction of technology to confront knowledge and global competition was the elimination of "slack" throughout organizations; primarily at the managerial level where computers removed the need for intermediary functionaries, sped transactions between business units and clients, and shifted power to employees engaged in knowledge production. These actions have broken old work arrangements and processes through removal of defined internal and external boundaries, creating what have been termed boundaryless organizations (Davis, 1995). What has occurred within the organization has also influenced individual careers that are now described as boundaryless (Arthur, 1995).
The context of work within knowledge-based firms begins by recognizing the importance of generating, capturing, and acquiring pertinent information whatever its location. This recognition has broken down boundaries within organizations as units, departments, and even cultures to draw together the appropriate people to staff a project or deliver a service. Production teams have replaced a cadre of managers as the focal point of decision-making and control over a project. Managers in the TQM process take on the roles of facilitator or coach who ensures that the environment and support are conducive to team performance. While team members can work close to each other, this is not mandatory. In fact, team members can be separated geographically by large distances yet be only an instant away through virtual offices. Davis (1995) extends the concept of the virtual workplace to a cadre of staff that includes full-time employees, consultants, part-time or temporary workers, employees from cooperating organizations, and any special staff on a project team. In essence, organizations have shifted the fixed cost from a formerly permanent labor base to a technological infrastructure by which labor becomes a variable, controllable cost.
Internal boundaries are not the only ones to fall. An organization's relationships with other firms in the same knowledge environment can be altered dramatically. Once it took mergers or acquisitions to penetrate another organization, now joint ventures and spin-off companies linked together through technological interfaces can be even more effective in meeting production and service goals. Mergers and acquisitions will not disappear, in fact these activities may increase in efforts to eliminate competitors or strengthen an organization's market position. What is clear from the available and emerging options that clients and partners have now become internal to the organization with attention given to knowledge generation through user input and information sharing.
The final boundary that technology breaks deals with time. Work does not have to correspond to a clock. Davis (1995) stresses the advantage of being able to align the schedules of employees with client needs. Some processes can be automated such as bank tellers, food check- out, and entry to facilities these services can be delivered on a twenty-four hour basis. The biggest advantage may come, however, in the elimination of the traditional workday.
The major issue remains jobs: as Seligman (1992) quotes Senator Harkin, "Jobs are not the issue. Slaves had jobs. The issue is what kind of jobs." Technology wields a two-edge sword: deskilling jobs as well as enhancing skills. Repetitious tasks are easily computerized or handled by computer driven processes ... thus jobs are lost; but as technology and human capacities seek more competitive production processes, skill requirements have risen (Adler, 1992). Howard (1995) argues that skill enhancement is now an ongoing process for workers who need to be able "to respond to the unexpected and unpredictable." Workers who are in control of the work process possess a wider range of skills in order to sequence the tasks effectively, and determine and adjust how to do the work-in other words operating a machine is not as important as controlling the design of the production process (Howard, 1995; Baldry, 1988).
As process obsolescence and worker replacement occur, the skill requirements of workers (both new and current) will be upgraded. Looking at the new jobs being created, this trend appears to be true (Nascar, 1994). However, some labor market economists contend that the process of upgrading skills is going very slowly and most workers remain stuck in low paying, low skill positions (Mischel and Teixeira, 1991).
From their haphazard use throughout the 1990's, integrated systems will drive the workplace by the time Tyler, Megan and Alex begin to work (Coovert, 1995; Hines, 1994). When computers were placed on desks between 1982 and 1995 nothing much happened with productivity. Only after companies eliminated positions and computer systems, including software, were adopted and applied to the needs of the remaining workers did productivity gains result. Now computer systems are used to define how work is accomplished according to the needs of the worker.
Besides influencing how work is defined and enhancing productivity, the knowledge-based era has wrought changes in who is conducting work, their attachment to an organization, and where work is taking place. In the search for workers who possess necessary skills and knowledge that reside outside the organization, employers frequently rely on consultants, partime and temporary employees who possess specific skills, or outsource tasks to other organizations within their web of contacts. Davis (1995) addresses knowledge acquisition as a critical step to an organization's survival: organizations that fail to take a broad view to where knowledge is generated, both internally and externally, are doomed.
The implications for the employee are career changing. As the company broadens its web, extending its external and internal boundaries, employees will have to adopt behaviors shaped by individual networks (to sustain their employment in the web), interpersonal skills that include conflict resolution and negotiation, communication abilities of justification and persuasion, and leadership. For some, their style of management shifts from a dictating approach to a listener and partner. Further adjustments will be needed by those employees who find themselves working at home, as some Johnson Control engineers recently encountered. Working at a distance removes the contact with supervisors, eliminating the direct attention and feedback available from co-workers and management. Virtual office workers need to find ways to visualize or recognize their achievements in a work process in which they do not often see the end product; to overcome isolation from others for long periods; to develop self-discipline; and to design self-evaluation strategies that ensure that quality work is being produced.
These behavioral changes require employees to undertake continual self-improvement: what Peter Senge (1990) calls personal mastery or the discipline of personal growth and learning. Personal mastery involves the integration of a personal vision (what we want) with an understanding of the world that surrounds us (grasp of reality). According to Senge (1990, p. 142), people who possess a high level of personal mastery can be characterized as: having a sense of purpose, can work with change, perceive reality, are inquisitive, develop a strong connection to others, and are committed. These traits are partners to the intellectual skills developed in the classroom and embody much of what Goleman (1995) refers to as emotional intelligence. Just as the organizations they pass through seek to grow, workers of the 21st century must incorporate personal growth, the pursuit of a vision through the understanding of reality and a connectedness to the world, in their daily lives.
An individual's career, once defined as a sequence of work experience over time (Arthur, Hall and Lawrence, 1989) has been irrevocably altered by the transformation of the economy. No longer can the easily understood flow chart of sequential jobs (positions) serve as a career map; similarly, the single employment setting is no longer where careers are nurtured (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996). A career now represents the engagement in activities that are influenced by conditions beyond the organization. Arthur and Rousseau (1996) have articulated these conditions:
The common characteristic across these conditions is independence in making individual career arrangements rather than depending upon the whims and fancy of an organization. The new career model, if we dare call it that, takes on the form and function of today's workplace: it's boundaryless.
For Tyler, Alex, and Morgan the term job, defined by Anderson (1995) as "being employed by an organization in a clearly-defined and stable occupational role, with duties, hours, and rates of pay and promotion all more or less standardized," will no longer be part of the workplace vocabulary in 2015. Work, which Bridges (1994) and Cleveland and Jacobs (1996) define broadly, encompasses a range of activities with workers using ingenuity and improvisation to sustain their livelihoods. In other words, engagement in the economy will take many forms; forms that can only be dimly visualized in 1996.
As we prepare for Morgan, Alex, and Tyler, we need to realize that the Millennial student will bring different attitudes, perceptions and expectations to our educational enterprises. The nagging question is whether educational institutions are adequately preparing for their arrival: are their needs understood; is the world they are preparing to enter understood; and is the academy willing to refocus its mission rather than rearrange the deck chairs. Cooperative education, in conjunction with other experiential learning programs, is positioned to influence the shape of the 21st century educational landscape. The new instructional delivery systems incorporate adult learning methods that blend the theoretical and the practical, as well as build success around individualized learning styles. Cooperative learning ventures essentially allow students the opportunity to customize their educational experience. The research challenge is to present the co-op experience as a positive bridge linking academic preparation with the expected competencies and behaviors needed to attain rewarding livelihoods in the 21st century.
[Americans] "judge that the diffusion of knowledge must necessarily be advantageous, and the consequences of ignorance fatal, they all consider society as a body in a state of improvement, humanity as a changing scene, in which nothing is, or ought, to be permanent, and they admit that what appears to them today to be good, may be superseded by something better tomorrow." Alexis de Toqueville, Democracy in America (part 1 chapter 18)