As we move forward into a world filled with advancements in terms of technology, it has a significant impact on many things that we do: from the day we are born till the day we leave, every aspect of our lives are connected to technology. But today we aren’t going to talk about a morbid topic that would depress you or anything but talk about our younger generation, our children, because they are entering a world where the landscape is changing.
For instance, the job we did back when we were young is now nonexistent because technology took over. With increased jobs being taken over, how will the children of tomorrow prepare for a job that doesn’t exist?
Sri KDU International School Klang conducted an event: Hear from the Technopreneurs: Preparing our Children to thrive in 4IR, initiated by Aaron Sarma, member of Sri KDU Klang’s Tech Advisory Panel, Co-Founder and General Partner at ScaleUp Malaysia Accelerator and Co-Founder of a startup studio called Remote Ventures.
Here are some things that they shared, which would help the upcoming generation – to prepare for an uncertain future.
Cause of the Change
Technology
What was once considered to be disjointed is now picking up its pace and breaking 4th walls like Virtual Reality and it extends into artificial intelligence, Machine Learning, Robotics, Nanotech, Genetics, and biotechnology. In fact, the world of IoT is expanding from homes to entire cities, bringing solutions to problems ranging from supply chains to climate change.
Demographics
Ever since the pandemic happened, things have accelerated in every industry. Behaviors have changed as workplaces of industrial age are giving way to work practices that go well with the digital age such as remote work, flexible work and on demand as well.
In fact, the importance of gender equality and role of a women in today’s economy is transforming not just limiting to the talent pool but to the nature of products catering to them. Jacinda Ardern, is one of the many proof that women do things better.
Economy
Rising middle class in emerging market, investors all around the world looking for business with positive impact articulated by United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, changing values and giving consumers the ability to express the values do change the economy of a country in many ways.
The Jobs of the Future
Dispelling myths of the future of work
People fear the 4th Industrial Revolution because how AI has revolutionized things that once few humans were required to do the job, now requires almost zero human – and this has caused some negative impacts on economy with people losing jobs and so on.
But, ever since mankind carved a piece of stone into a tool, the welfare of humanity has been on the rise. Proving that humans will always be needed. Over the years, mankind has witnessed 3 major industrial revolutions and as every revolution was unfolded, dire predictions of massive job losses ensued, increasing each time. The first three are over and these concerns were clearly misplaced. The number of jobs increased each time, as did living standards and every other social indicator.
The Opportunity for our children
Today’s children are likely to have as many as 10 career changes in a lifetime that may well span more than 100 years due to improvements in health and technology. Our children will have the power and ability to connect with anyone anywhere. Regular people have the ability to attract worldwide support and audiences to present their talent or ideas. The sky is no longer the limit. It is the start.
The types of Jobs our Children will have
There are three basic categories for the jobs for the future, and it will leverage the 4IR technologies listed earlier but applied in the new economies:
- People who build modern technologies
- Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, the metaverse. Engineering and technical skills that build on automation will be critical for the future.
- People who can determine new applications for technologies
- These could be entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs who understand how 4IR technologies work and are able to apply these technologies to solve real world problems
- People who create content
- The creator economy is only getting started. Each of these kinds of jobs have one thing in common. The focus of knowledge is no longer about memorization or regurgitation of facts. It’s about being able to build something with the knowledge you’ve acquired.
Prepare them for the Future
Mindsets and Attitudes matter
Preparing for a world where we will have to deal with new kinds of technology and so on which are yet to be made, is proof that there will be a chance that they will have to learn to use it then. To do that, the greatest gift one can give our children is the ability to adapt, improvise and overcome – the desire to produce novel solutions and learn new things.
Learn 4IR Skills
4IR skills are the cornerstone of an education that will position the students for the future. So, focus on Math, Science, and technology – even have a basic understanding of how-to code.
Setting Right Conditions
To lead Artificial Intelligent machines into the new world, liberal arts education just might be the best antidote to automation. Given the fact that children will need a basic understanding of things, it could be the key to preparing for the future – giving them a broad range of knowledge to put to better use.
Children should also be multidisciplined. Gone are the days where having just one skill is all right and comes a day where having multiple skills is the way to make it through this competitive world. So, let them try a lot of stuff that pique their interest, that includes playing with modern technology as a part of improving their skills.
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