“In 2070 when there will be an extreme shortage of water …..we
will all have to shave our heads and be bald…..as we will not be able to wash
our hair…..there will be no need for barbers or hair stylists…..the only two
places where we will be able to live will be the poles due to their melting ice
….. as the poles will get crowded we will fight and push each other out into
the space…..we will have to carry parachutes with us all the time in case we
have to make an emergency landing…..or make spaceships our means of transport
to beat the crowd…..we will have to find ways to harvest water deep inside the
Earth’s surface…..else a 35 year old will look like a 90 year old…..and we will
all wear masks to look beautiful…..”
These were some thoughts
that my 9 year old shared with me about the future of our world.
Her words
brought a smile to my face but some elements of her conversation rang a warning
bell, suspecting the capabilities of our current academic system to cope with
the needs of the fast-changing world in the
21st century. To inculcate skills for ones who may work in low earth orbit travelling
in space ships or thousands of feet under the sea level in search of water, performing
jobs yet uncreated is difficult to grasp.
Even if we don’t go as
far as 2070, the expected average age of an Indian in 2020 is 29 years. This makes
one wonder, how is a population of 1.2billion and growing going to make itself employable?
Some optimistic people
may argue that 2020 is farfetched. Then in today’s world where knowledge and
service are the two economies expanding across all industries horizontally and
vertically and when employers are looking for employees who have not only
mastered core subjects, but are flexible, deal with change maturely and can
learn new skills quickly, the question is:
Is academic excellence measured on the percentile scale the best
way to judge a person’s caliber in this fast changing world?
The expanding
knowledge and service economies make communication, collaboration and
creativity as mandatory skill requirements for future.
The changing
environment, like the Arctic vortex, tsunamis, frequently happening flash
floods, make it critical for us to enable our children to think about the future
challenges and requires them to master the subjects fundamentally to be able to
re-build the world when required.
The everyday
shrinking world requires our children to be ‘globally competent’, understand
cultures and show empathy.
The crunch in supply
of jobs owing to mere numbers requires our children to develop entrepreneurial
skills way early in life.
The BIG DATA trend
fueled by the Internet of Things (IoT) requires our children to discern,
aggregate and synthesize information in ways we cannot yet imagine.
The growing
consumerism and constantly changing living standards and the divide amongst the
fellow beings require our children to be self aware, steadfast in their beliefs
and walk the path of happiness without begrudging.
In the
face of such unpredictable and dynamically changing world we need to rethink,
how our children are taught.
By teaching the integrated way of approach, where they apply the knowledge
gained with the help of life skills like problem solving, decision making,
communication, creativity, flexibility, team work, empathy and self awareness
to contribute to their communities, we can divert their attention from
television and video games and make them enterprising, independent, strategic
thinkers, who reach their highest potential, contribute to the world and
realize self worth.
Today the toughest job lies with the parents,
who need to raise the children of the 21st century, who will operate
in jobs beyond our imagination. The lack of our insight into the future and the
limitation of our knowledge from the past limit the growth of our children and clip
the wings of their dreams from taking flight.
The
Commuknitree is a first of its kind initiative that intends to address this
concern by creating community level platform/s to empower parents with the
information to enable far reaching growth of their children.
For more
information, visit http://www.thecommuknitree.com
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