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Wendy McGrath
Special to The ATA News
Today's marketplace appears to place greater value on technology. but is that truly the case? Is there a "math/science myth" at work that equates a background in those disciplines with guaranteed career success?
Figures based on term one enrollment in University of Alberta winter session 95/96 (as of December 1, 1995) indicate that 2,989 students were enrolled in BSc General degree program, 921 in BSc Special and 466 in BSc Honors. The number of students enrolled in BA (Art and Design Major) was 108, BA (Music Major) 34. Do these number reflect a sense that, in the marketplace, a science degree is more desirable than an arts degree? Is market demand a relevant criteria for choosing an academic path?
"It's not just the immediate pay-off of a job" says University of Alberta professor of sociology Harvey Krahn. "We need well-rounded citizens."
Krahn says the math/science myth is "like a public discourse, a rhetoric." Like the first Sputnik, he says, "it's only part of the story." He feels that "over the long haul general arts degrees have value," it may be that their value takes longer to reveal itself because, "career pathways are less defined." But, Krahn adds, the "same applies to grads with a straight math degree." He agrees "there is a need for industry to train specialists in the science area.." Says Krahn, "The ones that head into law, medicine, engineering, business have clearly defined goals."
But if companies are lamenting a lack of potential employees with a math and/or science background, should the blame rest on educational institutions? Should schools be educating students specifically with the aim of fulfilling jobs in the marketplace?
"Employers are a little quick to point the blame at the school system," says Krahn. "It would be absolutely stupid for the post-secondary institutions to fill niches," He says it is a real dilemma, should we start training kindergarten and first graders for the labor force? "Parents can actually be spooked into not putting their kinds in math."
What do employers want?
"Often employers don't know what they needs," says Graham Lowe, a professor of sociology at the University of Alberta.
The Conference Board of Canada Corporate Council on Education Employability Skills Profile: What Are Employers Looking For? states that companies require "people who can communicate, think and continue to learn throughout their lives; people who can demonstrate positive attitudes and behaviors, responsibility and adaptability; and people who can work with others."
The study identifies three areas of critical skills required by Canada's workforce: academic skills, personal management skills and teamwork sills. Communication skills, positive attitudes and behaviors, adaptability and the ability to work with others are some desirable attributes identified by employers. Lowe alludes to the "generic skills" described in the profile and points to the similarities between them and those skills which may be acquired with a liberal arts degree. "The challenge is for employers to make use of human capital," says Lowe.
Widgets anyone?
"What's required right now is not more science and technical people who know how to connect the widget with the widget," says Patricia Clements, dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta. "I think that the marketplace you're looking at in the broad frame requires adaptiveness."
Clements feels that part of what makes students valuable as potential employees in that marketplace is the "ability to adapt to changing circumstances." What employers are looking for are "people who can learn on the job, articulate in seconds, who can write, who can work in small groups." Lowe agrees. "I think the kind of skills employers are looking for today go far beyond any specialized technical skills." Lowe feels problem-solving skills, interpersonal skills and communication skills and the ability to use computers are important. But, he points out, You don' t need to know math to use a computer." What of the number of jobs created because of technological advances?
"The occupational category that would be science, engineering, math has been rapidly growing in the past 10 years...remember it's a small occupational category," says Lowe. "To say we should be responding to specialized demands in industry is fallacious." He alludes to engineering students whose technical skills may be obsolete by the time they graduate, but whose problem solving skills will stand them in good stead. Lowe feels what is important is "how employers use graduates," adding that when it comes to employees, "employers in this country invest very little."
Jim Timourian, associate chair for Undergraduate Studies in Mathematical Sciences at the University of Alberta says the province has tried to grow in the area of technological advancement. Timourian says that if you asked employers what they wanted in a potential employee, communication skills would be number one on the list. But, he asks, "Why not have training in science?" He does not equate a university education with "training to be a brick layer for example." He feels that Alberta "needs people to do all sorts of things." A strong math background is required for economics and management, and there is general recognition he says, "if you have talent in mathematics or take a lot of math courses...it s not a routine skill. Law schools like to see strengths in math."
Hamlet = Job?
"I learned that understanding Hamlet could get me a good job," says Peter Greene, vice-president quality, environment, safety and training for PCL Construction. Greene has a BA and MA in French Language and Literature. "I went to university based on the assumption that I was there to get knowledge," says Greene. "What stood me in great stead was that I learned about process how to assess people, size up situations and problems, solve them, plan and organize and communicate."
Greene says he also learned how to work in small groups. "I learned more about process than I learned about substance." But Greene says, "The most important skill I got was how to learn." He has been employed with PCL for the past six years and ran the Banff Centre for Management for 10 years in the 1980s and prior to that worked with the federal government. The skills he acquired have been valuable for both the private and public sectors. The skills he sees most neglected "have to do with reading, understanding, writing and speaking," and he adds that those skills could be acquired in drama, psychology or literature.
Bruce Saville is president of Saville Systems Canada, the largest employer of computer professionals in Edmonton, outside the provincial government. The company hires programmers and analysts to design software for telephone companies. "The set of skills that make a good business programmer aren't necessarily math or science orientated," he says. "I want to know what their logic and problem-solving skills are like." Saville adds, "Education is getting people the first job and it's how they do in their first one that gets them the second one."
The power to (l)earn
According to Statistics Canada, Census of Canada, 1991, public use sample tape, males in their thirties, working full-time and having a bachelor degree in fine arts, can hope to earn $32,150. Those with a bachelor in humanities, $41,919 and those with a bachelor in the social sciences, $47,697. Those same males with bachelor of science degrees, in agriculture/biology could earn $45,833, with a bachelor in natural sciences, $48,248. Females in their thirties with a bachelor in fine arts could earn $29,165, in humanities $27,027, social sciences, $35,941. Females in their thirties with a bachelor of science degree, in agriculture/biology could earn $35,083, in natural sciences, $40,192*
Schell Personnel Services specializes in placing sales and marketing specialists in the technical, medical and pharmaceutical fields. President Bill Schell says, "Five years ago a degree was a degree." Now, he says that it is more difficult to break into pharmaceutical sales without a BSc degree. Some 90 per cent of Schell's pharmaceutical placements would require BSc education at the entry level. He adds that people with a non-science background "cap out" at the hospital level. Not every client demands job applicants possess a science degree. "In a non-specified requirement they're all equal."
*From Robert C. Allen, "The Economic Benefits of Post-Secondary Training and Education in BC: An Outcomes Assessment," Department of Economics, UBC, March 1996. (Contained in "Markets for University Graduates: An Economist s Perspective" materials for the Visiting Committee, 1996, presentation by Melville L. McMillan, chair, Department of Economics, U of A, March 29, 1996.)
