youth

New grads have to compete with AI for entry-level roles, hiring managers say [Ewen]

On 08/10/2026, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, change, changing business models, credentialing, skills, society, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

New grads have to compete with AI for entry-level roles, hiring managers say — from hrdive.com by Lara Ewen
Nearly half of organizations now ask a senior worker plus AI to do the work of several entry-level grads, per a new report.

Dive Brief:

Hiring managers in the U.S. are betting on artificial intelligence over new graduates, with 48% saying they would rather invest in AI tools than hire and train a recent college graduate, according to a Friday report from ResumeTemplates.com.
The job market does still have space for 2026 graduates, and 65% of hiring managers said they planned to hire the same number or more this year compared to last year, per the report. However, 23% said they expected to hire fewer 2026 grads this year or none at all, and 12% didn’t know how many they would hire.
Most hiring concerns centered around workplace skills rather than credentials. Nearly 70% of hiring managers said they had “at least one character concern about recent grads,” including 33% who cited “a lack of work ethic.” Another 76% said recent grads required assistance understanding basic documents such as memos, contracts and budgets.

Some wisdom for us this week

On 08/05/2026, in ethics, faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, morals/values, relationships, religion, society, youth, by Daniel Christian

James 1:22

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Jeremiah 33:2-3

2 “This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: 3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

Mark 9:7

Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

Psalm 25:4-5

4 Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.

Isaiah 41:10

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Will this new company be the largest company on the Internet by 2030? [Christian]

On 08/01/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, informal learning, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, K-12 related, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, love of learning, more voice more choice more control, motivation, online learning, online media, online tutoring, pathways, personalized/customized learning, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, reinvent, society, staying relevant, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, training / L&D, United States, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The vision that I’ve been tracking for well over a decade begins with this graphic:
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Could LearnVector be this next-generation company/platform? Perhaps. Time will tell.

Per Matt Tower via The EdSheet Vol. 38 dated 7/31/26:

Coursera bets $100M on its own co-founder: Andrew Ng’s new venture LearnVector lands one of the largest single checks in edtech this year — from Coursera, the company he founded 14 years ago.
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LearnVector.ai

Staffing Agencies as Apprenticeship Accelerators [Leech]

On 08/01/2026, in apprenticeships, business, career development, communities of practice, internships, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Staffing Agencies as Apprenticeship Accelerators — from apprenticeshipsforamerica.org by Harry Leech; via Ryan Craig
Could America’s staffing industry be a catalyst for growing apprenticeship?

Apprenticeships for America (AFA) sees the development of a mature intermediary system as crucial to scaling apprenticeships in America. There are many shapes and forms of intermediaries: spanning public sector and private, for profit and not-for-profit. One promising and relatively unexplored model is staffing agencies.

This Field Briefing reviews the landscape of opportunity for harnessing America’s $200 billion staffing industry to grow apprenticeship. It explores the fit between apprenticeship intermediary functions and capacities of staffing firms. And it offers examples of how staffing agencies todays are supporting apprenticeship activies of their customers. Ultimately, it will take policy simplification and stable funding to fully benefit from the integration of the staffing industry and apprenticeship. This report sets out how.

Download the full report here: Staffing Agencies and Apprenticeship Report

From DSC:
Below is an item on futures thinking. Don’t blow this off. This topic — and skill/strategy — is important not only to traditional institutions of higher education, but also to businesses and organizations of all sizes. In fact, even students can practice developing a list of potential scenarios and implement their plans of action if one of those scenarios occurs.

Chris Mayer’s posting on LinkedIn.com

Steward Stories: How Heart of Oregon Corps Turns Service into Careers — from gettingsmart.com by Karen Pittman and Merita Irby

Our “Steward Stories” series captures lessons learned from interviews with leaders of mature, purpose-built ecosystem intermediaries. An ecosystem steward is a boundary-spanning leader who goes beyond traditional out-of-school time (OST) system building to weave together the diverse people, places, and possibilities that shape a young person’s daily life. Rather than managing a single isolated network, stewards collaborate across K-12 schools, youth development programs, and workforce systems to build vibrant, equitable learning ecosystems. They drive systemic change from practice to policy by creating purpose-built intermediaries, developing scalable cross-system training tools, and championing “Future Features” of learning. These core priorities include promoting learner agency, institutionalizing “unwalled” schools that connect community resources to formal education, broadening the definition of educators to include informal mentors, and normalizing pathways for students to receive school credit or credentials for out-of-school learning.

The starting points, paths, and targets set by these stewards are as varied as the conditions and opportunities present within their communities. But they share similarities in vision and approach. Learn More Here.

Learning ecosystems may be found anywhere, but it takes careful stewardship to help them thrive.
— Shift, Remake Learning

‘Voices in the Mirror’ Honors the Legacy of Pioneering Photographer Gordon Parks [Parks & Mothes]

On 07/22/2026, in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), history, photography, society, sociology, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

‘Voices in the Mirror’ Honors the Legacy of Pioneering Photographer Gordon Parks — from thisiscolossal.com by Gordon Parks and Kate Mothes

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Free K-12 Career Literacy Resources from agilities.org

On 07/16/2026, in business, career development, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, education, engagement / engaging students, engineering, entrepreneurship, experimentation, innovation, K-12 related, learning, skills, society, student-related, teachers, United States, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Agilities — from agilities.org by the DeBruce Foundation; via Paul Fain
Help students build confidence and prepare for bright careers!
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Also from Paul Fain, see:

Unlocking Opportunity: Progress on Moving More Students Toward Good Jobs — from highered.aspeninstitute.org

Released in partnership with the Community College Research Center (CCRC), Unlocking Opportunity: Progress on Moving More Students Toward Good Jobs highlights early outcomes from the first 10 colleges in the Unlocking Opportunity network. The report demonstrates that community colleges can rapidly increase enrollment in high-value workforce and transfer pathways while reducing enrollment in or improving programs with weaker labor market and bachelor’s degree outcomes.
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The economy is shutting young adults out of career-entry jobs, analysis finds [Kalser]

On 07/15/2026, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, career development, corporate / business world, economics, student-related, United States, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

The economy is shutting young adults out of career-entry jobs, analysis finds — from hrdive.com by Laurel Kalser
Artificial intelligence matters, but in a “narrow, early and age-specific way,” researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis said.

Dive Brief:

The decline in overall job openings, exacerbated by a rising demand for artificial intelligence-related skills, is causing employment opportunities for young adults aged 18 to 24 to deteriorate, according to researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Between April 2023 — when the U.S. labor market was at its strongest — and December 2025, the employment rate among 18- to 24-year-olds fell by more than 2 percentage points, researchers William Rodgers, III, and Alice Kassens reported in a June 30 post. The decrease appeared primarily as higher unemployment, rather than as labor force exits, “indicating that younger workers were still searching for jobs but with fewer opportunities available,” the authors noted.
By contrast, there was no comparable slide for workers aged 25-64, whose employment outcomes remained largely stable, the researchers said.

Some Scripture for us

On 07/15/2026, in Daniel S. Christian, ethics, faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, morals/values, relationships, religion, society, youth, by Daniel Christian

Psalm 138:8

The Lord will vindicate me;
your love, Lord, endures forever—
do not abandon the works of your hands.

From DSC:
“…do not abandon the works of your hands.”
I need to ask that fairly often when praying to the LORD.

Proverbs 3:13-18

13 Blessed are those who find wisdom,
those who gain understanding,
14 for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
those who hold her fast will be blessed.

Revelation 3:20

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Psalm 34:8

Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

Why recruiters can’t find workers and new grads can’t find jobs (it’s not AI) — from washingtonpost.com by Jon Marcus
Experts say a major labor shortage looms because of population shifts and a mismatch between new graduates’ skills and employers’ needs.

Recent college graduates complain they can’t find entry-level jobs because artificial intelligence is taking over.

Yet, tech recruiter Matt Walsh and other experts say the growth of AI and the struggle to find entry-level work mask a bigger problem: The United States is facing what’s projected to become the largest labor shortage in its history.

In sectors such as semiconductor production, the problem isn’t AI or too few jobs, said Walsh, CEO of the Phoenix-based search firm Blue Signal.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “There just aren’t enough people.”

Economists warn that the worsening labor problem, due in part to a skills shortage and population shifts, will be vast and reach beyond tech.

Among the trends that have been leading to this moment: a mismatch between the careers college graduates are pursuing and the jobs employers are struggling to fill. Far fewer students are majoring in health care fields than are needed to meet demand, for instance.

“We have pumped so many young people into business and finance” when what’s really in demand are graduates in other fields, Hetrick said. “It’s like a factory producing these workers like widgets, even though society is saying, ‘We really don’t need them.’ And the factory just keeps pumping them out.”

“Teachers ban it. Employers demand it.”

Also relevant/see:

The Shifting Career Ladder — from nafez.substack.com by Nafez Dakkak
AI is changing how work works and quietly removing the pathways through which young people learn to become experts.

AI is reshaping how people build skills, enter professions, and move along the career ladder and through the labour market.

In this conversation, I sit down with Matt Sigelmen founder of LightCast and now the President of Burning Glass Institute. Matt has dedicated his career to understanding the labor market and helping society improve the connections within in it.

Matt and I explore why people and opportunities are often only “a few skills apart,” why entry-level work may be losing its traditional role as the first rung of expertise, and why schools, universities, and employers now need to rethink the pathways that turn potential into mastery.

Educators need to be deeply aligned with what these changes are, and they need to shift the AI discourse from “how” questions to “what” questions. What do we need to teach? What do we need to keep in the curriculum?

A Comprehensive Report on Teens, Tweens, and AI — from commonsensemedia.org

To find out what that actually looks like day-to-day, we surveyed more than a thousand 9- to 17-year-olds across the country. We asked them how they use AI, how often, and for what.

The Common Sense Media Census: AI Use by Tweens and Teens (2026) is the first in a series we’ll repeat every year to learn how this generation’s relationship with AI evolves over time.

A few things stood out:

Kids are using AI for many things. It’s not just a homework helper anymore. For some kids, AI has become a confidant, even though our research is clear that AI companionship is not safe for anyone under 18.
Guardrails are thin to nonexistent. Schools are talking about rules more than safety. Three-quarters of kids say their school has discussed what they can and cannot use AI for, but just over half have been taught how to use AI safely.
Just like we saw with smartphones and social media, the conversation is once again lagging behind the technology. Nearly half of kids have never had a conversation with their parents about AI safety.

23,000-Square-Foot Clasping Arms Celebrate Community Resilience in Minneapolis [Saype]

On 06/29/2026, in art, communications, creativity, society, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

23,000-Square-Foot Clasping Arms Celebrate Community Resilience in Minneapolis — from thisiscolossal.com by Saype and Kate Mothes

Some wisdom for us

On 06/24/2026, in Emotion, ethics, faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, morals/values, parents/guardians, relationships, religion, society, youth, by Daniel Christian

Psalm 103:13

As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear* him;

*From DSC:
Fear here refers to respect or to revere

Psalm 23:1-3

A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.

Matthew 7:13-14

The Narrow and Wide Gates
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
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— as seen originally here

Psalm 103:2-5

2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Psalm 100:4-5

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 68:4-5

4 Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds;
rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.
5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.

Proverbs 18:10

The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;
the righteous run to it and are safe.

Learning Ecosystems