(NewsNation) — More high school students want real work experience after graduation, a recent survey by the College Savings Foundation found.

When asked how they would design their perfect higher education class, practical work experience was the top-ranked choice for many teens.

“What we’re seeing is a desire to learn how to learn, and learn in a very well-rounded way,” Kim Anderson, executive director of the National Education Association, said. “That’s what all educators want for students— is to get that comprehensive, well-rounded education that prepares them for any career that they may choose to go into.”

With students looking to be prepared for life after school, one NewsNation viewer, Olin McSherry from South Carolina, had questions for Anderson on how educators could help them do so.

Q: How can America have greater success in linking employers and educators and making sure that our graduates, whether in high school, technical colleges or universities, are better prepared with a skill set that employers need?

Anderson said she encourages governors and state boards of education to establish more councils where educators, parents, academics, members of the business community and economists discuss what the education system needs to look like from pre-kindergarten up through graduate school.

That would help to align what educators are teaching students, to make sure that they are able to succeed not only in a career, but in making sure their communities are strong, Anderson said.

“These councils could help educators prepare students for civic responsibility,” she said, along with “understanding how our democracy works and making sure that they are well-rounded and healthy adults.”

Q: Can voters expect action on college debt forgiveness in light of this year’s midterm elections?

Anderson said she certainly hopes so.

“We are seeing an increase in the number of students who go to community colleges, career and technical education, in addition to traditional two and four-year colleges,” she said. “The cost of college though, is really, really skyrocketing.”

That’s why she and other educators have been so insistent on urging the president to cancel student loan debt up to $50,000.

“(That) would help so so many people right now, particularly women. Women hold two-thirds of the nation’s college student loan debt,” Anderson said. “And we know that student loan debt particularly impacts Black and brown communities even more disproportionately.”

In addition, Anderson wants to see more support for programs such as the Pell Grant, which is given to students who display financial need and does typically not have to be repaid.

“We have been certainly encouraging everyone, including educators and parents and communities to join us in advocating for our student loan debt cancellation at the federal level, and also lots of initiatives that help bring college costs down, that increase the amount of financial aid that is available for folks that increase the number of grants as opposed to loans,” she said.