We often hear that we are preparing the next generation for jobs that do not exist but seldom do we think about the possibility that these careers may not be in our communities, or in this country, but we are also preparing them for jobs that are out of this world, quite literally! Whether on planet earth or on another spot in our universe, the future of work will look extremely different in years to come.
The rate of technological change has accelerated at maddening rates and advances from multiple industries are combining and evolving to innovate and create every day, forming new ideas, solving problems, and unveiling new complexities that require even higher levels of thinking and expanding the limits of what we have ever considered possible.
Technology took centuries to evolve, partially because the ability to collaborate and build on the ideas and research of others was cumbersome. Industries and organizations were duplicating efforts. Centuries turned into decades, and decades evolved into years, and now technology is evolving in real time, with new technology outdating itself almost as soon as it is created.
What does this mean for education? We have to keep up. We need to strengthen our partnerships with business and industry to ensure that we are equipping students with the skills they need. Education has always been about the future. This doesn’t imply that we need to do an overhaul of ALL things related to our current system, however, we must let go of legacy thinking that no longer serves the youth of today AND connect the staples of the past with the needs of the future to give students the skill sets that they need now.
What are the jobs of the past that are no longer around today? Milkman? Chandler? The Town Crier? Book Peddler? A Switchboard Operator? Computer? I had to think hard on this and turn to Google for some hints, but in the years to come, entire industries will become obsolete at a faster and higher rate. We see this already with industries such as Blockbuster being replaced by Redbox, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. According to TechTarget’s Tom Goodwin, “Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate.”
The bottom line is that each of these industries thought they were safe… until they weren’t. Education isn’t immune to being replaced. District schools within our public education system are not immune. When choosing between public school options, charter schools are increasing in popularity and have tripled in enrollment over the past decade. According to some sources, homeschooling has surpassed the growth rate of charter schools. Regardless of whether a school is public or private, this shows a move towards other options in education. It is up to us to make the changes needed to stay relevant. In our current state, government has a monopoly on education, but we can already see this changing. No one has a monopoly on the future of education. It is a shared responsibility.
