Most students invest 16 to 20 years acquiring knowledge at an enormous cost to them, their families and our society. Far too often, the process doesn't yield efficient outcomes.</p><p>Time and again, there is misalignment between scholarly pursuits and the job marketplace, and many kids end up with unbearably high student loans. We can tweak this education-to-employment process and achieve some valuable results -- a modern model to prepare young people for the workplace and accelerate Florida's economic growth.</p><p>Learning should be both curiosity-driven and workplace-relevant starting at early ages. A good example is keyboarding with proper hand placement and words-per-minute awareness, avoiding hunt-and-peck keyboarding. Especially at the earliest ages, this skill can be acquired in a fun, game-like atmosphere.</p><p>Not many students today have fast and accurate keyboarding skills, especially while looking away from the keyboard. Imagine the productivity gains throughout an entire lifetime if someone is an excellent keyboarder.</p><p>How about a workplace-relevant course? According to the Huffington Post, "Learning (basic software coding) is the new literacy. It accelerates child development, it stimulates creativity and builds confidence, and it unlocks the best careers in America." To start, most good jobs require knowledge of the Microsoft Office Suite: Word, Excel and PowerPoint. With these skills, one can manipulate data, write essays, prepare and understand presentations.</p><p>We are fortunate here in Florida. Starting in middle school, our students can earn industry certificate MICRO069-Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS). Some 4,074 Floridians did just that two years ago, and the number is rapidly rising. Teenagers, still in school, can get higher-paying jobs with this certificate in hand.</p><p>According to the College Board, only 2 percent of students learn to code, but computer science majors have no trouble landing jobs. In fact, there are more computer programming jobs than all other math and science jobs, and almost 70 percent are outside the tech sector, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics. </p><p>How about some other industry certificates?</p><p>Florida offers certificates in 90 different professions, and Florida's secondary students earned 33,523 such certifications in 2010-11. They are trained to do something, in addition to the standard high school diploma, and they earn much more than minimum wage. Certificates range from Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) to Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) to Certified Food Manager (CFM).</p><p>Earning one or two industry certificates in middle and high school will put Florida's students into one or more workplace-relevant courses at an early age. Imagine if we added an industry certificate qualification to gain entry to our universities and to get Bright Futures scholarships. And allowing students to follow their curiosity by choosing industry certificates in areas of their own interest is bound to reduce high school dropout rates. Even eventual dropouts will be more employable at higher wages if they have a certificate.</p><p>We must abandon the question of college or career. We should ask each student about his or her interests and place them on a certificate pathway to career and college. Attaining some skill in something (anything) and being employable comes first. Then, formal and continuous education follows.</p><p>Education to employment starts with keyboarding and enhanced computer skills, enriched with another industry certificate -- all while studying common core subjects. Ready with some employable skills, our high school graduates can proceed to any of Florida's 44 technical centers, 28 colleges, or 12 universities a bit more rounded and a lot more focused.</p><p>John Padget of Key West is a member of the Florida Board of Education and a former Monroe County School District superintendent.