The impact of technology especially Computers and their applications have transformed the way we do business. What has not transformed is our education systems and more importantly those who are supposed to run and administer them.
There is a generational gap which is aggravated by a greater technology gap. How do we expect our children to be ready for the world and embrace and deal with the diversity and speed that characterises the modern world.
I remember, when I was young having a Pen Pal, we used to correspond by mail, it took weeks.
Now you don't need to even need to e-mail them any more, our children can have a real time chat with them, follow their news and activities on a variety of social media applications.
Hours of doing research at the library is replaced by seconds on google, my favorite phrase is "google it" and children are doing just that. It opens a universe we have never dreamt off even in our wildest dreams.
So, we have young men and women who grew with technology and its associated speed and diversity having to deal with parents and bosses who are totally oblivious and are not even willing to deal with technology. They in turn, and this is where the tragedy lies, have to deal with Education System(s) that are barely acknowledging computers and their applications.
Most governments pay lip service to modernising their curricula and they way they educate and teach. Then they wonder why we are producing young men and women who are disgruntled, unhappy and sometimes radicalised.
As parents we bear part of the responsibility by not forcing Education as an overriding issue. It is the future of nations lie there. It is an issue of national security, without healthy and well educated future generations, external threats become irrelevant for the internal issues are more disturbing. I am not advocting that nations, God forbid stop defense spending, but at least let us look rationally at our Education System(s) and fix them.
With two children about to go back to school, I am concerned about education; it appears to be about passing exams, ticking boxes and presenting un-achievable expectations in the minds of the kids; why do we want 50% or more of the population to have a degree when I cannot get a plumber or a mechanic for my car. When I was an apprentice we were given a framework around which to apply our education, today that basic framework is not there and therefore the problem solving skills we need are not developed.
ReplyDeleteI have found it very difficult in the past to recruit people into a technical services environment, that I have to de-skill the tasks so far to meet the levels of those coming into the industry, is the way forward? I am not sure as it requires systems and oversight to ensure defects don't get through.
There needs to be a change in education, the thoughts of the sixties generation have proved to be unsuccessful.
Malcolm