The Future of Education: A Concern for Us All

I’m still pondering the direction of “Future Education,” which is the ultimate goal of my blog....

In the agricultural era, parents simply had to teach their children how to farm. With the advent of the modern era, schools became widespread, and parents sent their children to school, urging them to study hard so they could become white-collar workers. If they had higher aspirations, they were raised to become experts. This was possible because parents had a certain understanding of the social structure, and the future was predictable. However, parents today are no longer able to advise their children on future careers. This is because parents do not know what society's future will look like. The same goes for schools.

When I visited schools, I found that rather than thinking about how national educational policies affect their students, teachers spend their days making sure nothing goes wrong with students and keeping up with the daily curriculum.

While parents are confused and teachers are frantically trying to get through each day, educational consultants are taking advantage of this situation to offer advice—and in doing so, they’re lining their own pockets. Of course, their advice may sometimes be helpful to the child. However, rather than focusing on a child’s aptitudes, these “experts” tend to recommend prestigious universities and majors in computer science and engineering.

Yes, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is coming, and innovative industries are emerging: space, biotech, robotics, artificial intelligence, and digital currency. They represent a new era that will unfold for our children’s generation. So, we have to think about how our children should adapt to these changes by learning “what” skills. With talk of the Fourth Industrial Revolution everywhere, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is a hot topic in education.

For example, I can't drive. One of my friends advised me to learn to drive so I can enjoy convenience and independence in my old age. But when I reach my old age, 20 years from now, we’ll naturally be riding in self-driving cars, robots will have finished cleaning our homes, all payments will be made with digital currency, and my wealthy friends will be sharing stories of trips to the Moon or Mars. Other friends will have cloned their beloved dogs to keep by their side (Barbra Streisand actually had her deceased dog cloned and carries the clone with her). I wonder if we’ll even be able to clone our beloved spouses or children to live with us (it’s technically possible now, but we don’t do it for ethical reasons). Since most work will be done by robots and artificial intelligence, there won’t be much left for humans to do. Food will be mass-produced in labs, so there will be little need to worry about food security. (However, this vision of the future is based on the assumption that everything turns out positively.)

This kind of everyday life on Earth is by no means a distant prospect. That’s why I’m pondering—and why we’re all pondering—how our children and future generations should live. And only by finding the answer to that question can we determine the path forward for future education. The answer isn’t simply that, because the world is undergoing rapid changes.

04/08/2020 by Dr. Lan Joo