【推荐1】Recently, I sat in a lecture hall with a couple of hundred final-year undergraduate students.     1     When I was about to graduate, the future seemed unclear. I didn’t have a place on a company graduate programme like many of my classmates. Decades on, I realized that what seemed like obvious career ladders weren’t so simple.

In the UK at least, the job market for today’s graduates seems good. The annual report by the Institute of Student Employers found that graduate recruitment could increase by 5% in 2023-24. Companies struggled to recruit in areas such as digital, engineering and finance.     2     — with an average of 86 applications for every opening.

    3     The Chartered Institution of Personnel and Development’s good work survey found that only 35% of people said their job offered good opportunities for career advancement.

There are a few reasons why people find it difficult to advance on the career ladder. One of them many people struggle is that career ladders are becoming smaller. As large organizations have slimmed down, so have the internal paths for promotion.     4     As work gets outsourced to gig workers, there are few opportunities for developing new skills and stepping up.

Another issue is that increasing numbers of people just aren’t interested in climbing the ladder. The recent iteration of the world values survey found millennials and generation Z placed less value on work than they used to. A decade ago, 41% of millennials thought work should come first while that number is 14% today.     5    

【推荐3】Research shows that forming connections with your coworkers is good for your career and your overall happiness.

It’s a fact that as you get older, it becomes harder to make friends. It’s a natural progression, whether you work in an office or a remote area. As you get older and leave school, you often have more demands for your time and fewer opportunities to get to know those around you.

“Maintaining friendships takes effort, but it’s well worth it,” says CEO and Fast Company contributor Corey Weiner. “Studies show that a friend can make you a better collaborator (合作者), a more creative and productive worker and generally happier with your job.”

After all, most of you spend a huge number of your waking hours at work. Of course, it’s more fun to have someone to collaborate with and occasionally sympathize with. But how do you go about making genuine connections with coworkers or other like-minded individuals in your industry?

It might sound overly simplistic, but a big part of building friendships is just putting yourself out there. “If you’re not used to having a lot of friends any more, you may actually need to remind yourself to engage,” writes Professor Art Markman. “Set time on your calendar for a phone call or make plans to get a cup of coffee.”

“Don’t wait for someone else to make the first move,” says Keith Rollag, author of What to Do When You’re New. “If things go well during an initial coffee or activity, actively follow up to build on that connection.”

You’re not going to immediately bond with all of your coworkers or every person you meet at a networking happy hour. But making continual attempts to find connections with your non-annoying colleagues will eventually pay off. Last but not least, don’t call them work husband or work wife in the beginning.

【推荐2】For decades the message to students in the United Slates has been nearly the same: You need to go to college. Students have heard this message loud and clear, ever since their childhood. However, while encouraging students to further their education after high school is a noble and well-intentioned action, the current system in the United States has created some damaging side effects.

The largest and most well-known consequence is the student debt. Tuition and fees at our-year universities have risen by around 54% since 1999. Total student debt in the U.S. is estimated at around $1.6 trillion, so much that even the world’s richest man Jeff Bezos would have to increase his wealth by nearly nine times to pay off all of it.

Although the price of acquiring a bachelor’s degree has gone up, the relative value of having the actual degree has been watered down by the fact that holding a degree is now an expectation, not a bonus. The poor return on investment is also evidenced by the massive waves of students earning degrees in fields where there simply are not enough jobs for the number of graduates, leaving young adults in debt and out of work.

The push for students to go to college has also prevented them from considering careers in important fields that don’t necessarily require a four-year degree, such as construction and manufacturing. Despite the good pay and benefits in these industries, the lack of new blood has lded to growing shortages of both workers and skills，causing delays and higher costs in project like road repairs and infrastructure (基础设施) improvements.

Colleges and universities remain critical to our nation. But as a society, it would benefit us greatly to acknowledge that college isn’t the only form of higher education and career preparation. Students and young adults have more options than they think and informing them of those opportunities can go a long way toward making higher education as a whole more effective, efficient and affordable.

【推荐3】As children returned to school in Sweden last month, many of their teachers were putting a new importance on some traditional skills. These included reading printed books, quiet reading time and handwriting practice. Teachers were spending less time on digital products, online research and typing skills.

The return to traditional ways of learning might be the answer to questions raised by experts. They have questioned the country’s dependence on electronic technology in education. For example, schools in Sweden have introduced tablets (平板电脑) in preschools.

Lotta Edholm, Swedish Minister for Schools, was one of the biggest critics (反对者) of the level of technology in schools. “Sweden’s students need more textbooks,” Edholm said. “Physical books are important for student learning.” Edholm said last month that the government wants to reverse the decision made by the National Agency for Education to make digital products required in preschools. The ministry plans to stop digital learning for children under the age of six.

Sweden’s students score above the European average (平均分) for reading ability. But an international test of fourth grade reading levels showed Sweden’s children had lost ground between 2016 and 2021. “An overuse of electronic products during school lessons may cause kids to fall behind,” education experts said.

Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, a medical school centered on research, said in a statement last month, “It has been proved that digital tools harm rather than benefit student learning.” It added that schools should instead center on teaching using printed textbooks.

Not all experts think Sweden’s move away from digital technology is only about what is best for students. “It ignores the fact that technology improves learning,” said Neil Selwyn, a professor of education.