Want to raise an innovator? Build habits.
Author: Tsveti Kamova, founder of Red Paper Plane
When we talk about skills, we usually identify two types — low-order skills (literacy, numeracy) and high-order skills (problem solving, teamwork, empathy, critical thinking, presenting). Looking at the traditional educational system, it would seem that skills should be allocated according to the child’s height (meaning that only older children should develop more sophisticated skills). Fortunately, science proved this concept wrong a long time ago and now we know that children are predisposed to developing high-order skills early in life — as early as three, in fact. And this is not because the sooner we start, the better but namely because this is the most appropriate age to encourage children to practice and develop habits. To say that we have acquired a skill would mean to apply it instinctively, without reflecting why, how or when, or in other words — by turning it into a habit.
Every parent and educator has a prime goal — to transform one set of valuable skills into habits. When you start building habits for something simple such as brushing teeth you go through three stages — 1) introducing and learning, 2) persistent and patient reminders and 3) giving a personal example — and it should be the same when you approach any other skill. You need a useful tool to introduce a certain skill and practice it persistently until the child starts to apply it in any given situation. Considering that children learn at a remarkable speed at this age, they forget with the same rate (if not higher) when there is no systematic repetition. And, of course, practicing what you preach by demonstrating how it’s done yourself.
And just like children brush their teeth every day, without necessarily thinking why, we should aim to turn problem solving, teamwork, proactivity and innovation into habits.
Why? Because the world has changed.
Brian Cox starts each episode of the remarkable BBC series ‘Forces of Nature’ by saying the following:
The world we live in is beautiful to look at, but it’s even more beautiful to understand.
And this world keeps changing at an even greater pace. Even people who work in the sphere of innovation, where cutting edge technology is part of their everyday job, find it hard to keep up with everything. When we talk about our children’s development, we have no excuse to be unaware of the latest findings and research data and deliberately avoid acting upon it. Moreover, how can we plan our children’s future when we are oblivious to their current needs?
Our kids live in a very different world from the one we used to feel comfortable with and this is not necessarily а good or a bad thing. It’s just a fact that we have to use to their advantage. In 2017 Finland became the first country in the world to test the universal basic income (UBI), e.g. to garantee an unconditional income of €500 to €700 a month. Great, but why?
Before answering that, let’s take a closer look at the world we live in today (end of 2016, to be precise) with these 5 quick examples:
- There are several artificial intelligence platforms in the world that are being tested right now. Just one of them (Amelia) is considered capable of putting 250 million people out of a job, worldwide. These are (for now) the routine low-qualification jobs, which will probably be cheaper and more efficient to be performed by an AI (like servicing customer support centres, for instance). There are dozens of studies and reports available stating which jobs are most likely to be the first to go in the next 10 years.
- A lot of companies all over the world are developing new machines and robots in various sectors of the economy, pushing aside human professions and activities, because they are faster, cheaper, safer and without the human error factor. One recent example — Singapore is already testing the first self-driving taxis. The transport sector might be among the first to become fully automated, probably before our youngest children reach the age for obtaining a driving license.
- Since 2012, CRISPR has been in constant evolution. This is a genome editing tool, which can be used to repair a faulty gene by cutting it out and injecting a normal copy of it into a cell. In the United States, there are workshops for a type of ‘garage’ genetic engineering where you can go with your 5 y/o, take an eggplant’s pigmentation gene, combine it with a jellyfish and mix up a purple jellyfish, or a glow-in-the-dark bell pepper and whatnot.
- A lot of hard work is being done for a possible future Mars colonisation (just check out the ideas and projects of Elon Musk). It is quite possible that our kids may live and work as scientists on a station on Mars and you would plan a family visit when the two planets’ orbits ‘resonate’ at their closest point.
- There are also people and organizations working on different mechanisms for prolonging human life. We could be on the verge of discovering how to live up to 180 years or even more. Can you imagine just how many career choices you could make over such a period of time?
The list goes on and on.
So why would Finland want to test a universal basic income ? Because people are losing their jobs — they might lack key skills or there might be fewer and fewer positions available for humans. The machines and software take only seconds or minutes to execute tasks that could take a person several days, weeks or more (in specific sectors, of course), they do not require salaries and have a minimum percentage of error. This tendency has the potential to grow with a snowballing effect and could have an enormous impact on our lives and our children’s lives — because we are still preparing them for a world which no longer exists and for types of jobs, which are easily replacable by machines or software. We fail at teaching them how to prosper in activities and fields, where being human is their biggest advantage.
It does not matter if our kids will be bio-engineers in an artificial organs farm, scientists in labs on Mars, or middle-class managers at our local telecom company. Their work will be appreciated (even today) if they are really good at designing new products and services that move the company forward and help it progress. They need to be proactive, able to successfully finish projects, lead a team or be part of one, take on an initiative of their own or even start their own business and know how to attract the right people and resources.
These new products or services that would drive the business/company/organisation forward will have to be innovative — which means to solve a certain problem or need in the most effective and satisfying way. This is what real innovation is. It is not a machine, you do not see it only in labs through your safety glasses — it is a combination of mindset and actions. Innovators are people who create and implement these products and services. They are the type of people who are least likely to be pushed out of the workforce and resort to living on a universal basic income. Because they do creative work and apply high-order skills — the invaluable combination that makes us humans.
And it’s not that difficult to imagine. 3–6 year old kids are capable of doing it and they find it interesting and fun. Children learn and start using these skills very quickly, but in order to have a lasting effect, they have to be practised persistently.
Again, back to toothbrushing — you have spent 2 months (at least) to teach your kid that he/she should brush their teeth, then you have insisted every single day (several times per day, to be exact) and then you have reminded them at least for a year in order build this habit by also demonstrating it on your own. This pattern of parent-child interaction should be applied to all other skills.
As parents, we all want to give our children more than we have ever had. Let us stop giving them the past when we can give them the future. Yes, it requires a lot of time and effort, but that’s what parenting is all about, isn’t it?
Red Paper Plane is creating innovative learning programs with design thinking for kids
age 4–10 — ”Design Explorers” for the home and “Design Champions” for educational environments
