(View entire post here)

For some time now, there has been a troubled national conversation about the skills and values of young people entering the workforce, concerns about their literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving ability, and, as well, their weaknesses in the so-called "soft" job skills: punctuality, responsibility, a sense of workmanship.

I wonder, though, if our collective anxiety is distracting us from, even blinding us to, a wide range of behaviors and values that are constructive, engaged, and laudable and, in fact, are dearly sought in our national assays of young people's lives. We don't look in the right places - which are, not infrequently, right before us.

The studies I did for The Mind at Work offer a different perspective. My observations of young people building a cabinet or repairing a faulty circuit revealed complex thought and skill. And these observations have also revealed a range of values that would offer an unexpected contribution to our national lamentation over the loss of values.