I was thinking about Neal Stephenson’s Diamond Age. What if every child has a cloned AI in the form of a robot or a tablet etc. it mirrors the child’s knowledge base. And depending on the life circumstances of the child, every choice the child has to make, it offers a variety of subjects to learn and master. In the future, there are no ‘degrees’ ..only skills that are marketable. I find it difficult to believe that we will have a job market as we know it now for the future generations. What is education for then...if we do end up in a post scarcity world..education still has value, yes? OTOH, if we end up with a resource scarce world, survivability would be based on skill sets that are not salary based. Just wool gathering here. What kind of future do you think your kids will have and what kind of education do you think they’d need in their future?
I caught one of the Akimbo podcasts a while back where Seth Godin argued that kids will need creativity and leadership as the core skill set for future jobs.
I tend to agree with this, the current form of public education worked well when manufacturing jobs were plentiful post WWII. Those types of jobs have migrated overseas. Trying to bring them back here will not work as many firms have begun using advancements in robotics.
Some form of art, craftsmanship, or apprenticeship will likely be part of the future mix of jobs. If you read books like The End of Jobs by Pearson or The 4 Hour Work Week by Ferris, you get a sense that being an entrepreneur is a possibility. However, I think one has to consider the real odds and survivorship bias.
What I have done with my kids is to try to instill a love of learning. I have taught my 5 year old daughter using a visual programming language. I think it is very important that you make an effort to teach your children skills that are not generally taught in school.
