Armond McFadden is another student anxious to find work that taps into his talent for photography, videography, and knowledge of buses. Unfortunately, as is the case in most schools today, there’s no place for real-world skills in test-prep factory schools. Today's system, which forces students to waste their time developing their memorization and regurgitation talents, leaves no child prepared for the successful pursuit of a 21st century career. Instead, teachers should begin helping their students develop a digital footprint that will attract the attention of potential employers. This might include a website, blog, About.Me page, Video site, Flickr site and more. To package this information, teachers can provide their students with a competitive edge by helping them write what one company is calling a One-Page Proposal and it’s designed to produce a product that promotes the kind of discussion employers are looking for. The proposal gives students the opportunity to have a conversation with someone face-to-face about a real idea and allows job seekers to bypass the dry questions a resume elicits, and discuss something of substance.
