Many articles are forwarded to me, and I read almost all if them. As an aside, I usually stop reading if the subject matter focuses on criticizing or mocking a political leader. Prayer and obedience are the primary responsibilities of Christians whose citizenship is in heaven.
Now, back to today’s suggested reading from Philadelphia’s Daily News –
By that, Shostack said, he means that high-school students were not trained a generation ago to be on-their-feet thinkers, but rather "were schooled to be order-accepters" - exactly what employers are not looking for in 2010.
Iowa's Leicht said that the problem even runs deeper - too many employers are seeking state-of-the-art knowledge that they believe comes only from young job-seekers just out of school, and thus place little or no value on the years of experience accumulated by older workers.
"We've created an environment that only rewards the now - not the future or the past," Leicht said, and that is making job-seeking even more difficult for experienced workers. That's in addition to a new wrinkle that some employers have added since 2008: that they take applications only from people who have a job somewhere else.
After pouring out our lives in Philadelphia, we would urge educators and church leaders to develop skills in critical thinking. We are, in our opinion, on a steep and slippery slope of simply doing things that work, without enough critical thought to long-term impact.
If the Daily News writer is correct, the public schools made a tactical error decades ago and we are now dealing with systemic problems. The parallel in church life is. If we simply do what works and is culturally relevant today, what will be the long-term impact on the church of the future? Critical thinking, Spirit-led decision making today will have a redemptive effect. If we fail to be led by the Spirit today, the consequences can be as devastating in the church as it is to many of Philadelphia’s current unemployed population.
Pastors have a holy obligation to lead congregations in thought and decision. That is my opinion.
The entire article may be read at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20110531_For_Philly_s_male_workers__no_jobs_now_____and_maybe_never_again.html?viewAll=y
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