V5 (5 Things 1 Topic)

Education is about to undergo some major changes.  Changes that have to the potential to make the current standard practices unrecognizable.  AI is expected to displace an obscene number of employees in the next 10-20 years.  That number will continue to increase for the foreseeable future until eventually we land in something that resembles a post-work economy.  An overwhelming majority of college students cite jobs and pay as their primary reason to attend a post-secondary institution.  Colleges and universities perpetuate that mindset by focusing advertising money on the fact that degree’s amount to dollars.  For the entire history of organized education, this has been true.  Today, students who attain a college degree make around 66% more money than those with nothing more than a high school diploma.

As jobs begin to dimmish, so too will that primary reason for attending college.  So, in a post-work economy, will there be a role for colleges and universities?

I think the answer is maybe/sort-of, but with colossal shifts in perspective about what education has to offer.  The list is long, and the details are hidden.  I’m not even remotely sure about what changes for colleges of the future will entail, lots of things for sure, here are 5!

1. Adaptation!  The world is changing fast, if people can’t learn to adapt with it, they will be left behind.  The political rhetoric of going back to some imagined time when things were simpler or greater or better is antithetical to reality.  There is no going back, and colleges should be preparing the students of today for the coming disruption to the job market.  Major disruptions will be highly visible within the next 5 years, and undeniable with in the next ten.  A student starting college in 2025 with the promise of finding a job in 2030 will have been sorely misled by the shortsighted arrogance of ill-informed college administrators and recruiters.  Change and uncertainty are and always will be among the scariest obstacles humans have to face.  Preparing students to deal with and thrive within a drastically changing world should be the primary focus of educational institutions at all levels.
2. Distinguish Facts!  If there were a universal exam to assess the proficiency of individual’s ability to distinguish fact vs. opinion, I’m afraid we would be discouraged by the outcome.  “Fake News”, conspiracy theories, anecdotal evidence, and sophisticated persuasive speech are not only dangerous and prolific, but also entertaining, exciting, and sought after.  Comprehending how to determine misleading information is something that should be included at every level of education from kindergarten through college.  This comes with an emphasis on critical thinking, media literacy, information analysis, fact-checking practices, research methods, and the lessons on the importance of validating sources and information.
3. Socialization!  One of the biggest fears amongst futurists is where we’ll find value/purpose in a post-work economy.  Jobs currently take up a substantial amount of our waking life.  While most of us find it easy to complain about work in one way or another, it’s still one of the few places that bring people from different walks of life together.   Of course, baseball games, the theater, and the ballet bring people together as well, but not in the way that jobs do.  Aside from affording income (which provides purpose as well as possibility), jobs offer shared experiences in an intimate environment that is relatable solely to the folks involved.  In a post-work environment, we lose that specific daily dose of social interaction, but that doesn’t mean we have to lose the benefits of those interactions.  Teaching students the value of shared experience, as well as how to form social bonds should alleviate some of the concern for loss of purpose.
4. Communication!  This goes along with socialization because effective communication can lead to deeper and more impactful connections.  Opposed to popular opinion, ineffective communication skills are not limited to any one particular generation.  There is room for improvement across the board.  Humans are communal, and without jobs to help broaden our analogue (as opposed to digital) communities, we’ll be forced to establish new avenues for communal relationships.  Digital communities will play an enormous role in how and where we communicate, but these communities should be peripheral surrogates and not replacements.  If we lose our ability to communicate in live person to person interactions, we will be giving up on what many believe to be an evolutionary foundation of human flourishing.  Colleges can and should make communication an essential part of the curriculum moving forward, not only to serve the purposes stated above, but also as a means to communicate with artificial intelligence in a way that is both advantageous and efficient.
5.  The Value of Learning.  In the ancient world, prior to any schools, or libraries, or even books for that matter, people began asking new types of questions.  They weren’t searching for answers that would come with a grand payout or vastly change their place on the social hierarchy.  They started asking questions simply because they were curious.  That curiosity set in motion a race to understand the world around us.  Getting caught up in that race proved to be highly beneficial.  That race led to advances in just about everything one could imagine from medicine to technology.  Our curious ancestors from the ancient world could not possibly comprehend just how significant their early wonders would become. I’m not sure they would care.  Those early questioners weren’t in it for the money or the glory, their questions held no extrinsic value (for them), they were in it for the questions themselves.  Starting in the ancient world, and sparsely sprinkled throughout time, there have been moments when the primary goal of education was intrinsic.  That is, learning was desired not for the sake of some material good, but in and for itself.  Sometimes people want to learn simply to learn.  The time of colleges conferring grades and awarding degrees is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean that education has to follow suit.  The shift from an extrinsic value placed upon learning to an intrinsic value won’t be seamless, but if colleges are to withstand the changing winds, they too will have to adapt.

Taken individually, these five points will be easily accessible in a post-work economy, but the institutions of higher learning are primed to offer all five in the same place and same time.  One can easily imagine colleges and universities becoming community hubs for social interaction, not just for young folks, but for anyone anywhere looking to fill the gap in a world once dominated by 40 hour workweeks and weekly paychecks!

I do want to note that colleges and universities will be joined by plenty of other opportunities for people to “fill the gap”.  I think places like climbing gyms and crags can offer similar avenues by which to achieve these five points.  Especially adaptation, socialization, and community.  Perhaps we’ll see the merger of several similar resources throughout communities worldwide?  Perhaps that is wishful thinking.  There are a lot of ways in which colleges can play a role in our fast approaching future, these are just five!

V5 (5 Things 1 Topic)