I admit I have
been very fortunate over the course of my working life. I have never had a job
I did not enjoy, have been lucky to work in many countries spanning the world,
and met a host of wonderful people, with many of whom I am still in contact.
But, I do have
serious misgivings for future generations in that I wonder whether they can
find an equal dose of fulfilment during their working lives. Why do I say this?
Simply because I believe there is another Industrial Revolution on the horizon,
this time it will lead to the loss of “mid-level” jobs – those where a middle
level of education is necessary, but could be either robotised or computerised.
For many young
people across the world, the dream is to reach such a mid-level job (perhaps
within government) where they can look forward to inflation-resistant salaries,
a not-too-stressful life, and a good pension at the end. Sorry to disappoint,
but these will go the way of hand-made artisans in the last revolution in that
they will be made unnecessary. We can already see the rise of “big data”
everywhere and this will certainly continue and increase; I can even foresee a
time when every purchase made anywhere of over $10 will be fed into the “cloud”
containing ALL our personal data – nobody will be immune from being watched
electronically.
Thus, I can
understand, and even sympathise to an extent, Asian parents paying for their
children to have extra tuition in the hope they will pass their examinations
and go to university. But this brings up another point; in future, such
learning to merely pass examinations will not be enough. What is needed (and
was an important aspect of my education), is the ability to “think outside the
box”, not to follow blindly but to THINK and EXPRESS their views and ideas.
Currently, certainly in the west, the education system is a complete mess with
governments doing little or nothing to react to this tsunami of change; if a
country, any country, wants to do its best for future generations, the
education system is the start point in order to prepare for the next
revolution. If this doesn’t happen, then they will end up with 1% of thinkers
who will enjoy wealth and 99% of the population having bullshit jobs. Is that
any way to ensure the long-term health of its population? I think not.
Until next time
(aiming even now to upgrade my skills),
Peripatetic
Scribe
Excellent, P.S. You are saying things that I have believed in and said over long school years. I hope (and that's all I can do) that we are preparing young people for better things than "bullshit jobs" (I like the term!) as we believe we, as educators, have a responsibility towards them....Incidentally, the children respond extremely well - and of course I and my colleagues give a lot of time to thought-provoking blogs - and this one I shall certainly use!
ReplyDeleteMany thank,
Mark NZ
Mark, thank you for your comments. It seems that you and your colleagues have an "enlightened" approach to your jobs, something very lacking in the majority of educational systems in other countries. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more! I attended one of 7 (at the time) United World Colleges - United World College of the Adriatic - whose vision and mission coincide with your views 100%. What you are saying was important then and it is becoming increasingly important as the time passes. Since the governments are not interesting in tackling these issues (through educational systems), I believe the overall responsibility lies with parents who need to emphasise the fundamental values and focus on "thinking outside the box". However, as we all know, most parents are nowadays too busy to deal with these problems. Hence, this problem needs to be addressed, as well. Consequently, we become aware of multiple problems in our contemporary society yet again and the requirement for substantial changes at all levels. Thank you. Lucana
ReplyDeleteLucana,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your valuable comments. I think we both agree that education has gone backwards over the intervening years, in part due to varying governments thinking they know best, and also, as you state, parents not being so willing (or even capable) of giving young people the direction and values they need.