Future Thought Leaders

We need to think critically, creativity, and logically in the future.  Since the beginning of civilization kids have gotten a majority of their education and knowledge from their parents.  In our modern connected urbanized world we have lost focus on educating our kids about our values, our dreams, and passing on our knowledge about the world.  We now depend on a socialized school system that was mainly centers around initial preparing kids for manufacturing jobs and know focused on going to college to get "jobs".  This is not what I would call a healthy system of education.  As pareents we have allowed ourselves to fall back on a system that corporately indoctrinates our kids with the idea that we all need to be the same, to fall in line with the status quo agenda of the day.  As parents we have accepted this system because it wasn't bad enough to make that big of a difference in the future of our kids.  But times are changing and this corporate way of thinking will not allow us to mature individually or as a society in ways that are needed to meet the challenges of the future.  Technology and our social attitudes have evolved to a point where it is hard to predict how our kids will respond to these changes.

In the past it was easier to see how the next generation would pass on the values and knowledge of the previous generation, today that transfer is almost nonexistent.  Parents connection to their children have been reduced to providing food, shelter, and transportation to ever increasing amount of activities either at school or available in the "community".  This is not how God intended it to be.  We need to look for ways to build a bond between parents and their kids.  (We need to foster relationships intergenerationally as well.  The wisdom and knowledge of previous generations are being lost.)  

To go along with this we need to look at new ways of teaching kids so they are prepared for the world of tomorrow.  The world of tomorrow will require deeper more critical thinking, thinking at higher level to develop the solutions that will be needed to tackle the challenges that are headed our way.  We need to think inventively, tactically, and critically.  We need to educate in ways that meet multiple learning abilities and skill sets.  As kids start moving into their teen years they need to start honing in on their passions, abilities, and strengths.  Some may say that they are not ready by then, I believe that is because of our low expectations and the amount of distractions that have encroached on our time.  At this time they may need to start looking at specific training or apprentice opportunities that will allow them to focus in on a certain area of interest.  This may take the form of alternate schools for different kids.  These schools would not be right for everyone, they would be more specialized and offer a connection to specific industries.  The typical schools that we see today would take on the form of preparing kids for professional jobs that require college education.

College has become a very expense and overrated requirement in today's world.  As you can see with the mounting college debt that students have amassed, it is becoming clear that college may not be the best investment, as it has been touted in the past.  This debt is surpassing the value that it adds to ones career and our economy as a whole.  We have lots of occupations and opportunities that do not require formal "college" education to do.  

As the world gets more sophisticated we need to evolve to be more efficient, teach our kids to be more creative in their thinking and be able to manage what value they offer the work force of tomorrow.  Let us start exploring these ideas today so that the kids that are growing up now can take on this modern world with all the tools tools they will need to be competitive and create new opportunities to expand our world.

Another item that needs to be taught is self promotion and selling of ones abilities.  We live in a world where there is no company loyalty.  Even if you work for a company you are still basically a contractor, they can let you go at any moment, you can leave at any moment.  I envision a time where there are no longer "employees" as we think of them today.  In order to stay a company you will need to constantly prove yourself (just as you would if you had your own business) to your employer, if you want an increase in pay, you will need to demonstrate that you have added additional value to the company, you will need to increase your skill set, and be innovative in how you approach your work to be increasing competitive with the growing labor pool.