I have written a lot about the ideas involved in the 21st century education initiative, and I have discussed some of the advantages and disadvantages in this broad area of educational changes…The obvious question which relates to all of these ideas is whether it helps future graduates have a better life, to find better jobs, and to help ensure a better future for all of us…because if this isn’t the ultimate result to aspire to, what is the point?
With this in mind, I decided to look over what is out there regarding corresponding 21st century jobs…to 21st century education. The result are rather mixed, in that this topic is used (by one of these posts) to advance arguments (i.e. straw man arguments…sigh) towards what could be called a less than sympathetic look at the status quo. This is done by implying that future K-12 education should focus upon developing students with the skill sets needed to be (presumably) managers and executives (discard any learning of ‘fact’s and to push towards humanities, arts, and the skills with which to deal with digested information…). This doesn’t really give much of a perspective upon the future job market.
Luckily the next link discusses the trends for some professions, and a realistic appraisal of the future job market (the link is from Forbes magazine…so an article about jobs is an article about jobs!). This brings in some interesting statistics regarding the growth and diminishment of some unexpected livelihoods (journalism may be waning!). The fact that the future will likely be much more globally connected, would seem to imply that our future graduates will be competing (in an increasing manner) with comparable graduates from school in China, India, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, Australia, Europe, and so on…
While this may be a disturbing idea for some to hear…I would suggest moving to the 21st century as this is a pretty obvious outgrowth of a global economy, and that there may be some upsides to this too…
Finally, the idea that most who are in the work force today, will likely not retire from the company which they are currently working for may spur an increase in freelance work, consulting, and we may see a golden age of entrepreneurism…or at least self employment…
Whose Children Will Get the Best Jobs in the 21st Century?
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/radical-teaching/201104/whose-children-will-get-the-best-jobs-in-the-21st-century
Whose Children Will Get the Best Jobs in the 21st Century?
With available information in all fields doubling every five years and the access to that information available globally, the best jobs will not go to the person who knows the most facts. Computers will always have the edge on that and when your children enter the workforce in the 21st century, if a computer can do the job, it will.
The best jobs will go to applicants who have the skillsets to analyze information as it becomes available, the flexibility to adapt when what were believed to be facts are revised, and to collaborate with other experts on a global playing field requiring tolerance, willingness to consider alternative perspectives, and articulately communicate one’s ideas successfully.
The factory model of education still in place was designed for producing assembly line workers to do assigned tasks correctly. These workers did not need to analyze, create, or question. Automation and computerization are exceeding human ability for doing repetitive tasks and calculations, but the educational model has not changed. In response to more information, students are given bigger books and more to memorize. To provide more time for this additional rote memorization, creative opportunities- the arts, debate, and general P.E. are sacrificed to the altar of more predigested facts to be passively memorized without opportunities for students to discover the connections between isolated facts and build networks of concepts nor opportunities to apply what they learn in other contexts.
The Worst Jobs For the 21st Century
http://www.forbes.com/2007/10/08/jobs-employment-economics-biz-wash-cx_bw_1009worstjobs.html
Health care, education and financial services–if you’re looking for work in the coming decades; these are the fields to get into.
What to avoid? The usual suspects… According to the projections by the U.S. government, manufacturing jobs are expected to decline by more than 5% by 2014 as production moves overseas. Same goes for textile workers, such as sewing machine operators, who will see a 36% drop in employment. Technology will kill off more office positions, such as file clerks. They’ll see a 36% drop in their ranks by 2014. Digital cameras will zap the manual photo processing industry by about 30%. And that guy who comes around to read your electric meter? Expect to see a lot less of him, too.
But these are the obvious victims as the U.S. moves from a goods-producing economy to a services-producing economy. More interesting are the jobs that are likely to experience slower than average growth (average being about 13%). This is where the surprises are.
Like computer programmers. Despite all the advances–and expected job growth–in the computer industry, expect the number of programmers to increase by about 2% between 2004-2014. Why? Outsourcing…Americans who want a career in this field should find a specialization, like cybersecurity.
Another endangered species: journalists. Despite the proliferation of media outlets, newspapers, where the bulk of U.S. reporters work, will cut costs and jobs as the Internet replaces print. While current events will always need to be covered (we hope), the number of reporting positions is expected to grow by just 5% in the coming decade, the Labor Department says. Most jobs will be in small (read: low-paying) markets.
Radio announcers will have a tough time, too. Station consolidation, advances in technology and a barren landscape for new radio stations will contribute to a 5% reduction in employment for announcers by the middle of the next decade. Even satellite radio doesn’t seem immune from the changes. The two major companies, XM and Sirius–which now have plans to merge–have regularly operated in the red
Say Goodbye to One Good Job …
http://obit-mag.com/articles/say-goodbye-to-one-good-job
There was a time, a long, long time ago – say, 2007 or even 2008 – when the American ideal of employment still held: full-time work, salaried or hourly, with health care and pensions and long-term stability. These jobs required leaving the house, dressing nicely, and they generally wrapped up after 8 -10 hour shifts. There were planned days off each week, most holidays free and sameness about supervisors that helped strangers relate to each other, whether they worked in banks or retail stores, on Wall Street or Main Street.
But as 2010 dawns, it seems those halcyon days of yore are over. We are mourning the death of the manufacturing economy that has prospered here since World War II and brought this country an unmatched standard of living. We are moving into less certain times, where the number of self-employed freelancers or part-time workers is increasing and, with it, the instability that can accompany those lifestyles.
