There was a time when I dreamed of a future where I would find myself a decent job, and I used to tell myself that education could get me there. I pushed myself to get the best out of the public education system in this country, and although I failed, I still had options. I wanted to get my qualifications right, so that I could get employed, and I’m pretty sure that most of you can relate to this same thought process — after being assured by our parents over and over again in our younger days, “learn all the stuff in school, and you will find a good job.”
Does this hold true today?
It might, but not for much longer. Not unless our schools start teaching us the skills we need for tomorrow’s jobs, and not yesterday’s. Not unless we are sensible enough to let our children choose the future, instead of making them slaves of the past. We all know the cliche, when you were younger you would have wanted to become a doctor; an engineer; an accountant or a lawyer. But if you could ask your younger self today, would he or she have the same ambition in life? Are we not well past that time, where one fortunate enough could easily fit into one of those four professions and live that simple life? And rightfully so, because evolution is a part of being human. Or so I suppose.
The Question
So, what is happening? Reiner Strack, a leading HR expert with the Boston Consulting Group suggests that this world would have more jobs in 2030 than employable people. In other words, humans will not possess the skills to deliver what is asked of them come 2030. Considering the pace at which markets evolve, this does not seem strange at all. We are making things worse by turning a blind eye to it. Over the past decade, inflation adjusted federal spending on employment and skill training fell by 14 percent in the US. Kicking Russia’s ass is more important, I guess.
In Sri Lanka, as we are transitioning form agriculture-based economy to an export oriented, knowledge-based economy, thousands of job-seekers are often left helpless. Forget the school system — it does not help us the way it did before. It’s stereotypical, backward-looking constitution is beyond saving. Our schools impede and destroy children’s creative potential, and prepare them for a job market that is part of history. They are insensitive to the skills we need to survive in the 21st century, but we do have alternatives: vocational education — the unpopular, underrated saviour. At least for some of us.
Those of you who are reading this in front of your laptops, curled on that bed comfortably in your parents’ house probably won’t understand this, but vocational training has saved many who were stranded and left out in the public education system. In 2013, 23,000 students were taken into the technical colleges in Sri Lanka, more than double the number in 2004, and that is on par with the number of students our university system accommodates.
The Answer?
But the vocational training we provide today is still for today’s jobs. When do we start thinking about tomorrow and the years ahead?
While it’s clear that we don’t have any hope with our schools, we do with our children. I am probably sounding like an old man but nothing good will come out of blaming it all on the system. The people, are the system. That is to say, we can find hope again if we change the people. And we can start with our children, today’s children.
Perhaps one progressive measure you’d be more familiar with is Hadi Partovi’s Code.org — his own personal crusade to bridge the gap in the computer science field. But the future is not only computers. Automation will render millions redundant, and there has to be a way we can provide employment for the unfortunate. Ageing populations in the world’s biggest economies will make them labour deficient in the coming years, and we need to be ready to take those places. It is very much a problem of attitudes that is holding us back. It is a question of breaking cultural barriers and adapting.
Or, surviving, if you may.
2030 is 15 years away. 5475 full days left to make things right. There still is hope for us.
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