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Title: American Millennials are among the world's least skilled
Source:
Fortune
URL Source: http://fortune.com/2015/03/10/ameri ... mong-the-worlds-least-skilled/
Published: Mar 11, 2015
Author: Anne Fisher
Post Date: 2015-03-11 17:31:34 by Willie Green
Keywords: None
Views: 27547
Comments: 77
Surprised? So were the researchers who tested and compared workers in 23 countries. We hear about the superior tech savvy of people born after 1980 so often that we tend to assume it must be true. But is it? Researchers at Princeton-based Educational Testing Service (ETS) expected it to be when they administered a test called the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). Sponsored by the OECD, the test was designed to measure the job skills of adults, aged 16 to 65, in 23 countries. When the results were analyzed by age group and nationality, ETS got a shock. It turns out, says a new report, that Millennials in the U.S. fall short when it comes to the skills employers want most: literacy (including the ability to follow simple instructions), practical math, and — hold on to your hat — a category called “problem-solving in technology-rich environments.” Not only do Gen Y Americans lag far behind their overseas peers by every measure, but they even score lower than other age groups of Americans. Take literacy, for instance. American Millennials scored lower than their counterparts in every country that participated except Spain and Italy. (Japan is No. 1.) In numeracy, meaning the ability to apply basic math to everyday situations, Gen Yers in the U.S. ranked dead last. Okay, but what about making smart use of technology, where Millennials are said to shine? Again, America scored at the bottom of the heap, in a four-way tie for last place with the Slovak Republic, Ireland, and Poland. Even the best-educated Millennials stateside couldn’t compete with their counterparts in Japan, Finland, South Korea, Belgium, Sweden, or elsewhere. With a master’s degree, for example, Americans scored higher in numeracy than peers in just three countries: Ireland, Poland, and Spain. Altogether, the top U.S. Gen Yers, in the 90th percentile, “scored lower than their counterparts in 15 countries,” the report notes, “and only scored higher than their peers in Spain.” “We really thought [U.S.] Millennials would do better than the general adult population, either compared to older coworkers in the U.S. or to the same age group in other countries,” says Madeline Goodman, an ETS researcher who worked on the study. “But they didn’t. In fact, their scores were abysmal.” What does that mean for U.S. employers hiring people born since 1980? Goodman notes that hiring managers shouldn’t overestimate the practical value of a four-year degree. True, U.S. Millennials with college credentials did score higher on the PIAAC than Americans with only a high school diploma (albeit less well than college grads in most other countries). “But a degree may not be enough,” Goodman says, to prove that someone is adept with basic English, can do what she calls “workaday math,” or has the ability to use technology in a job. Curious about how the PIAAC measures those skills, or how you’d score yourself? Check out a few sample math questions, or take the whole test.
Poster Comment: Heck, anybody who reads their Tweets already knows that their grammar is atrocious and they can't spell to save their souls.
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#1. To: Willie Green (#0)
Regardless of how education improves and school budgets increase, this generation and future generations will continue to be underachievers and poor choice makers. It's got nothing to do with IQ or quality of education. It has everything to do with the libtard "equality" mindset. There is no reason for children to excell, for they are instantly regarded as good as their peer and excuses are made for their ineptness. Then, these entitled little "it's not my fault" children grow up and spawn even a lower quality child.
By "libtard" I assume that you're referring to the underachieving libertarians who belittle the need for a quality higher education.
Meaning, any liberal minded person that feels people are equal. They aren't. Are you one?
No, I'm an engineer. Although when measured on this scale, lower capabilities are indeed on the "left" and greater capability on the "right", this does NOT apply to any particular political ideology that an individual may espouse.
Generally speaking. Are blacks smarter then whites?
Generally speaking, I don't believe skin pigment affects intellectual capability. However, there are also environmental/cultural factors that can skew the results. "Smarter" in one culture may be "not so smart" in another. It all depends what you mean by "smarter." And of course health/nutrition & training of infants & younger children in their formative years can lead to a greater disparity as to who is "smarter" when they get older.
I don't agree. Not everyone is capable of obtaining the same IQ given the same environmental circumstances. We are not equal... we should not be treated as equals.
I never said they could. But please let me rephrase what I said so it is more clear: So speaking statistically, everybody as a group is equal ON AVERAGE, but everybody as individuals is different. And skin color doesn't indicate who is higher and who is lower.
Ok... now we are getting closer in opinion. However, I still tend to disagree. I'd be willing to suggest that if you randomly picked 100 Asians from all over the USA and 100 black panthers from all over the USA, and tested them out, you'd be very disappointed in your "generally equal" results. And why just pick IQ? What about DRIVE? What about AMBITION? What about strength? agility?
Well I try to avoid basing my opinion on stereotypes, so I'd wager that YOU would be the one who would be surprised at how equal everybody would be on the normal curve. And not just IQ, but all the other attributes you mention.
There are no replies to Comment # 18. End Trace Mode for Comment # 18.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latestthat Millennials in the U.S. fall short when it comes to the skills employers want most: literacy (including the ability to follow simple instructions), practical math, and — hold on to your hat — a category called “problem-solving in technology-rich environments.”
#2. To: GrandIsland (#1)
It has everything to do with the libtard "equality" mindset. There is no reason for children to excell, for they are instantly regarded as good as their peer and excuses are made for their ineptness.
#3. To: Willie Green (#2)
(Edited)
By "libtard" I assume that you're referring to the underachieving libertarians who belittle the need for a quality higher education.
#7. To: GrandIsland (#3)
Meaning, any liberal minded person that feels people are equal. They aren't. Are you one?
I believe that human capabilities (physical and/or intellectual) are disbursed in the general population along the "normal distribution"
#8. To: Willie Green (#7)
No, I'm an engineer. I believe that human capabilities (physical and/or intellectual) are disbursed in the general population along the "normal distribution"
#9. To: A K A Stone (#8)
Generally speaking. Are blacks smarter then whites?
All people ARE created intellectually equal in that respect. They are all dispersed equally along the same normal distribution regardless whether their skin pigment is black, white, brown, yellow, red, olive or whatever other shade of human pigmentation there is.
#10. To: Willie Green (#9)
Generally speaking, I don't believe skin pigment affects intellectual capability. All people ARE created intellectually equal in that respect. They are all dispersed equally along the same normal distribution regardless whether their skin pigment is black, white, brown, yellow, red, olive or whatever other shade of human pigmentation there is.
#13. To: GrandIsland (#10)
I don't agree. Not everyone is capable of obtaining the same IQ given the same environmental circumstances.
We are not equal... we should not be treated as equals. Generally speaking, I don't believe skin pigment affects intellectual capability. All
people races ARE created intellectually equal in that respect. They are all dispersed equally along the same normal distribution regardless whether their skin pigment is black, white, brown, yellow, red, olive or whatever other shade of human pigmentation there is.
#14. To: Willie Green (#13)
So speaking statistically, everybody as a group is equal ON AVERAGE, but everybody as individuals is different. And skin color doesn't indicate who is higher and who is lower.
#18. To: GrandIsland (#14)
However, I still tend to disagree. I'd be willing to suggest that if you randomly picked 100 Asians from all over the USA and 100 black panthers from all over the USA, and tested them out, you'd be very disappointed in your "generally equal" results.
And why just pick IQ? What about DRIVE? What about AMBITION?
What about strength? agility?
Replies to Comment # 18.
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