Dr. Rick Franza, Dean of the Hull College of Business, discusses a different, timely business topic each Monday in this column. This week, he talks about how the pandemic affected school children and the impact it could have on businesses in the future. The interview has been edited for clarity and impact.
ABD: We’re seeing the results of studies showing that the past couple of years has had a negative impact on school children. What are some of those issues?
Rick: To be honest, I think it affected everyone. The studies being promoted are ones about standardized testing. Reading levels were lower than expected and they didn’t learn in general areas.
We’re still seeing a hangover of less engagement among our students at the university. It’s a chore to get them back involved. Students seem more bifurcated – one group is gung-ho and the other group is, “Meh,” not interested in anything. Some of that was present pre-pandemic but the pandemic exacerbated it.
ABD: Even though Georgia didn’t shut down schools for as long as other states, there was still more of an emphasis on online education. How did that affect things?
Rick: There was a lot of opportunity to goof off during that time. People talk about the degradation that takes place over the summer and the length of time it takes to get up to speed again. This prolonged period – not time off completely – where it was less demanding is problematic.
We were willing to give students, even at the college level, a pass during the spring of 2020 and there was some leniency that way even the next year, and that wasn’t good. I think the standards have gotten looser, with lower expectations, and people tend to meet expectations.
ABD: The studies I’ve seen have focused primarily on elementary grades but does what happened to them during the pandemic carry over into the future in college and the job market?
Rick: We won’t fully see it for a little while, but students will be less prepared for college and no one is going to do anything about it. The tendency is to move kids along. People who didn’t get two years of knowledge will still graduate in the same time frame.
It’ll be the responsibility of colleges to catch them up and prepare them for the workforce. They’ll require more training and the onus will be on the companies to educate and train them.
ABD: What changes might we see in colleges and businesses in response to this?
Rick: I think colleges will make radical changes. I think we were already heading in that direction, but like many things in the pandemic, it accelerated the timeline. With the workforce demand so high, colleges might consider shorter degree programs that are focused more on the jobs that are out there.
Businesses will have to take a bigger role in this. We assume as a business that we’re bringing in employees that are ready to go and I think the odds of that are lower now. It’s bad enough now finding people to work; it’ll be even tougher if they’re willing to work but are less capable.
ABD: When you say businesses need to take a bigger role, in what ways would they do that?
Rick: Companies have already been doing that pre-pandemic, but they’ll make more investments in education and training internally, which makes sense – assuming they can retain them. We’ve done pretty well in Georgia with higher education but there needs to be a bigger investment in K-12 education.
I think there’s definitely a possibility for new businesses, similar to Mathnasium, to help companies with education. There will be plenty of companies, especially smaller companies, that won’t have the wherewithal to do that. Just like anything else, you do it yourself or you outsource it. But a lot of companies will be looking for businesses that’ll do education and training to get the workforce up to speed.
ABD: This probably will all seem a little daunting to companies, especially smaller ones.
Rick: This is something that everybody – whether businesses or the university systems or private colleges – better be looking at. It’s an issue all businesses have to face whether they want to or not. You can’t stick your head in the sand – you have to take action.
