기업 인사담당자들, 대학 교육에 바란다 "요즘 학생 人性도 전공 지식도 부족 기업에 필요한 맞춤형 인재 키워달라" 이인열 기자 yiyul@chosun.com

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◆획일적 인재만 쏟아낸다

신세계백화점 최중섭 상무는 "높은 학점, 높은 어학 점수, 적당한 연수 경험과 봉사활동, 비슷비슷한 스펙(조건)의 획일적 학생들만 배출되다 보니 기업은 도리어 비슷한 인재들을 변별하느라 생고생하고 있다"고 말했다. KT 정준수 상무는 "기업은 잡다하고 얇은 지식을 원하지 않는데 지금 대학은 너무 통합적으로 과목을 묶고 있어 톡톡 튀는 개성을 살리지 못한다"고 말했다.

바깥세상은 새로운 아이디어가 부가가치를 생산하는 방향으로 급변하는데 우리 대학은 열정적이고, 창의적 인재보다 낙오하지 않을 인재 키우기에 매달린다는 불만인 것이다.

신한은행 박찬 부행장은 "신입직원들이 뛰어난 어학 실력과 전문 자격증을 갖췄다지만 정작 현업에서 창의적으로 응용하지 못하는 게 바로 우리 교육의 문제"라며 "점점 다양화·복합화되는 금융 기법과 금융 상품 앞에서 우리가 고전하는 것도 같은 맥락"이라고 말했다. 두산인프라코어의 이종완 상무는 "이론과 시험 위주의 교육으로는 창의성과 리더십을 개발할 수 없어 경쟁력을 갖지 못한다"고 말했다.

◆인성도, 전공 지식도 부족하다

많 은 기업 인사 담당자들은 공교육이 겉으로는 인성 교육을 위해 과도한 경쟁을 자제한다는 명분을 내세우지만 정작 신입사원을 뽑아보면 딴판이라고 지적했다. 해외 인력보다 더 심한 개인주의, 희생이나 봉사를 형식적으로 이해하는 모습 등이 인턴 채용이나 심층 면접에서 적나라하게 나타난다는 것이다. 중외제약 한상진 인사부장은 "지금 기업들은 높은 토익 점수나 학점보다 남을 위해 희생할 줄 아는 인재를 우선적으로 뽑으려 하지만 그런 사람은 많지 않다"고 말했다.

익명을 요구한 한 임원은 "전인(全人) 교육을 지향하는 것인지, 특정 분야의 전문가를 키우겠다는 것인지 목적이 불명확한 게 문제"라고 했고, GS홈쇼핑의 조상구 상무는 "인재를 뽑으면 업무에 곧바로 투입하기도 힘들지만 그렇다고 인성과 태도 같은 기본 소양이 빼어나지도 않다"고 말했다. 포스코 윤동준 상무는 "신입사원 면접을 해보면 전공 지식이 너무 피상적이고, 대학 내내 영어 공부만 한 것 같다"고 말했다.

◆기업 인력 수요와 겉돈다

익명의 한 임원은 "학과 이름만 바꾸면 산업계 요구에 응하는 건가. 너도나도 학과 이름에 '바이오' '나노' 등을 갖다 붙이지만 내실 있는 교육 과정 변화는 보기 힘들다"고 말했디.

신한은행 박찬 부행장은 "학문하려는 학생과 취업하려는 학생을 위한 별도의 교육 과정을 만들어 학생들에게 배움의 선택권을 늘려줘야 한다"고 말했다. KT 정준수 상무는 "노동시장의 표준 직무 분류를 다시 해 대학의 학과 과정도 재편할 필요가 있으며, 지금 대학 교육 과정은 기업의 인력 수요와 겉돌고 있다"고 말했다.

또 다른 익명의 임원은 "대학이 우리 사회 변화에 대한 인사이트(insight·통찰)를 제대로 던져주는지 반문하고 싶다"면서 "대학생 인턴사원들은 기업에 와서 대학 시절 뭘 배웠는지 모르겠다고 한다"고 말했다.

대 학들이 변화하려는 노력 자체에 대해선 대부분 임원들이 긍정적인 평가를 하고 있었다. 신세계 최 상무는 "인턴십 학점제를 도입하고, 중복 복수 전공을 허용하거나 외국어 필수학점제 도입 등 대학 사회도 많은 노력을 하고 있다"고 말했다.

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"To the left," high school senior Jovanni Martinez called out to his principal, Marshall Burgamy, who was scrambling on all fours through a thicket of shrubs while clasping one end of a length of transect tape. The pair was attempting to lay a straight, 50-meter course for a vegetation analysis at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve.

Also on hands and knees in the dirt, Rodolfo Dirzo, professor of ecology at Stanford, emerged from the same patch of shrubbery, where he had been working side-by-side with three of Jovanni's classmates.

Jovanni and the other students are members of the Redwood Environmental Academy of Leadership (REAL), a Stanford-funded program that holds classes twice a week at Redwood High School—the only continuation campus in the Sequoia Union High School District in Redwood City. The Jasper Ridge vegetation analysis is one portion of a special field trip that the four teens participated in that day.

Later that afternoon, the group analyzed the data in a classroom at Jasper Ridge. With the help of a Redwood High math teacher and two Jasper Ridge docents, the students calculated the density, frequency, dominance and value of importance of each species of plant they had encountered.

"They're really learning the concepts of ecology," said Dirzo, one of the program's founders, "but by doing activities, by doing the work of scientists themselves."

"Learning by doing is key when you have students that have really never had a successful scientific experience or class," added Cindy Wilber, the education coordinator at Jasper Ridge and REAL's other founder.

Many of the approximately 30 students involved in the program have visited the preserve, just west of campus. But most of the curriculum focuses on ecology-related activities that the students conduct back at Redwood High.

The REAL program, now nearing the end of its first year, is funded by a grant from the Stanford Initiative on Improving K-12 Education, one of the multidisciplinary initiatives sponsored by the university's $4.3 billion fundraising campaign, "The Stanford Challenge." Dirzo and Wilber co-wrote a grant proposal, and theirs was one of eight pilot projects accepted for the K-12 initiative's first round of funding for the 2008-09 year.

"I am humbled that they [Dirzo and Wilber] have taken invaluable time out of their many important responsibilities to plan, implement and collaborate for countless hours on this small high school program for underserved kids," Burgamy said. About 70 percent of the students are Latino, 40 percent are English-language learners and 70 percent are from low-income households, according to Burgamy.

Daily schedule

REAL takes place on a plot of land behind Redwood High that is about as big as a football field. To get there, participants cross a bridge over Cordilleras Creek, which runs adjacent to the school and represents the heart of the program. "The students are in the creek completing water flow analysis, pH tests and gathering specimens for data collection," Burgamy said.

The teens study how the creek fits into the ecosystem in a broader context, how development has changed the creek ecosystem over the years and what the students' responsibilities are as environmental stewards of the creek.

"You guys own this whole portion of this bigger watershed," Raynelle Rino, REAL's program manager, told the students at the beginning of the year.

A garden, currently dominated by weeds, occupies a large portion of the land. Classes take place on a small patio or in an adjacent shed that serves as the students' laboratory. Nearby is a small greenhouse.

The curriculum is organized into three-week modules that focus on topics such as species interaction or ecosystem services. Dirzo lectures on species interactions—the ecological relationships of plants and animals. Specifically, he covers how these interactions determine plant fitness and influence evolution. Students then come up with their own examples of species interactions with which they are familiar.

REAL addresses the problem that regular classes "are not innovative in the sense of moving beyond the typical, traditional way of being in front of a board and spitting facts for the kids to learn and memorize," Dirzo said.

The roughly 250 students enrolled in Redwood High attend classes either in the morning or afternoon. Students must be recommended by their teachers in order to participate in REAL. About 15 students participate per day, although the number varies because students can graduate whenever they have accumulated enough credits.

Burgamy likes to open each session by reading a poem and encouraging the students to say what they are thankful for that day. Then a brief lecture is given, either by Rino, a teacher from Redwood High, or a student volunteer or faculty member from Stanford.

Finally, REAL's students engage in an activity related to the day's topic. For example, during the session on ecosystem services, Redwood High history teacher Maureen Svenson asked the students to study old maps of Redwood City to see how development had changed the land. Then, the students—pretending to be landscape designers themselves—walked the land and created development plans that they would later present to their classmates.

"This … has really made me look at the curriculum and come up with things that are much more interdisciplinary than I [otherwise] would have," Svenson said. "It's been a really creative exercise for me."

In addition to the various activities swirling around the creek, another ongoing project was inspired by a history lesson about World War II victory gardens, which civilians planted with the intention of easing the burden on America's food supply.

"We're planting edibles from the 1940s, like potatoes, tomatoes, stuff that they ate in the 1940s during the war," student Eric Hagler said.

"And we're going to start growing mini-plants in the greenhouse," added his classmate, Brian Jensen.

For extracurricular activities such as these, students can earn history or elective credits toward graduation.

Collaborations

Dirzo stressed that being a part of the Stanford K-12 initiative's grant program has been instrumental in fostering interdisciplinary collaborations.

Occasionally, the grant winners get together to report on the progress of the eight pilot projects. "People get excited about what we're doing, and we get excited about what others are doing." Dirzo said.

For example, fellow grant-winner Professor Rega Wood and graduate student Eva St. Claire, both in the Classics Department, helped design a lesson plan about the use of Latin in scientific vocabulary, in order to help REAL students understand the words they encounter in class.

Thanks to another collaboration with grant-winner Professor Roy Pea in the School of Education, REAL will soon be international. Via the Internet, Skype calls and YouTube videos, Redwood High students will correspond and share data with students in Sweden and with participants of similar restoration projects that Dirzo and Wilber lead in Mexico.

"This will connect students doing ecology across the globe, from Redwood City and Yucatan to the state of Veracruz and Sweden," Wilber said.

Another collaboration, independent of the K-12 Initiative, was with Alan Launer, Stanford's campus biologist. An expert in conservation biology and environmental planning, Launer helped the students dig a pond behind the school so that, in the spring, they will be able to compare the creek's ecosystem to that of the pond.

Stanford graduate and undergraduate students have gotten involved as well, serving as guest lecturers and mentors. "It's really amazing to see how much [the students] really love what they're studying," said senior Jennifer Panlilio, who is completing her co-term in anthropology.

Project-Based Education

Its unique, outdoor classroom may be what makes REAL so popular with its students.

"It's fun," said student Sergio Guero. "Instead of being at class all the day, you [can] come over here and be outside working with nature."

"They have a lot of fun out here because they're sort of just hanging out," Rino said. "But at the same time, they get a lot of science content."

Patrick Gemma, superintendent of the high school district, has visited REAL and seen the program in action. He agreed that hands-on activities can bring classroom subject matter to life. "It's a way to connect the students with why they are learning algebra and why they are learning better forms of writing, and what's the value in reading and what's the value in being able to give a presentation," Gemma said.

Other schools in the district offer project-based education programs, but Redwood High does it on the largest scale, according to Gemma. "Connecting the math and the history with a theme, creek study and other environmental kinds of themes, just really engages kids and makes the education more relevant," he said.

Wilber said that project-based education programs can change a student's attitude about learning—and, in this case, make science education more attractive and rewarding for students and teachers. "It's all just rolled into this three-hour experience," Wilber said. "It doesn't feel like, 'Oh, this is my math homework.'"

Svenson, the history teacher at Redwood High who normally holds classes indoors, notices an improvement in behavior and engagement while teaching outdoors for REAL. "At certain age levels," Svenson said, "you just need to get up and move around and do stuff, and that's what this really allows them to do."

Across the board, the students agreed that being outside provides a welcome break from traditional classroom learning. "You're looking at the trees, the birds," Sergio said. "Time goes fast out here."

Chelsea Anne Young is a science-writing intern at the Stanford News Service.