Schooling is stuck in the 1950s, but technology must be blended with the basics of education
If there is one lesson the coronavirus pandemic has taught us, it’s the need for speed. Many sectors have had to make quick decisions about fully embracing the fourth industrial revolution, especially the education system.
According to a McKinsey report, by 2030, 75-million to 375-million workers will need to switch occupational categories not just once, but several times during their lifetime to evolve alongside increasingly capable machines. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation and robotics is said to make this next shift into the post-digital age as significant as the mechanisation of agriculture and manufacturing experienced in prior generations. Covid-19 has helped speed up the process.
Incorporating technology isn’t about offering computer science as an extramural activity or teaching children how to use a digital device. It’s about teaching the skills so they can create and further develop technologies in fields such as medicine, astronomy, environmental science, transportation, communication, computing, and engineering. Forget the microchip, it’s time to think atomic transistors, quantum electrodynamics and nanotechnology.
So where does the problem really lie? Children currently attending primary and high school are part of Generation Z and Generation Alpha . Their parents and teachers fall mostly into Generation X . Generation Xers are known to be the pioneers of parenting and teaching in the digital age. They are the last generation to remember life before computers and are first of the truly high-tech mentors. They also learned parenting models from their Baby Boomer parents that no longer apply.
In terms of creativity, this is also essential and, if introduced early on, a grade 1 learner can already create an annotated video clip to present their knowledge to the class. They make digital books with their own images, sentences and added sound to create their own published book. Apps allow their artworks to “speak”, explaining the process involved in the artwork and thus elevate their learning to a new technological level.
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