You can’t use the past to predict this future!

“How do we educate our children to take their place in the economies of the 21st century? Given that we can’t anticipate what the economy will look like at the end of next week! The problem with current processes of educational reform is that we are trying to tackle the future by doing what we did in the past and we are alienating millions of kids in the process.” — Sir Ken Robinson

If you’ve never heard Sir Ken Robinson’s talk on ‘Changing Education Paradigms’, then I highly recommend it.

As March 2019 quickly approaches, I can’t help but wonder — are our children prepared for the future that is being thrust upon them? Even I don’t feel ready for this future.

Our nation is entering a period of uncertainty that we have never experienced and sadly, I agree with Sir Ken. Our children aren’t in a great position to tackle it.

Sir Ken argues that our education system strips out the creative potential from our young people. He believes that our current system is creating educational clones who know how to pass exams but can’t think independently.

As a nation, we face a future that needs divergent thinkers. We need young people who can see a problem, design a way to tackle it and then go full steam ahead until the problem is solved.

It’s commonly said that ‘children are the future’. I truly believe they are. They are the future and they deserve better. It is our duty to prepare them for the uncertain future that we all face. I believe the best way we can do this is by helping them develop the transferable skills that they will need in day to day life. Skills such as problem solving, team work and creative thinking.

Entrepreneurship is one way to learn these skills but there are many others and we must do all we can to help our young people to solve the problems we have created!