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What’s the background?
For a country and its people to be ‘future fit’, they need to be able to visualise what the future might look like and the type of role or roles that they may play in it. This is something that T&T is struggling with in terms of implementation of the Vision 2020 initiative. The main reason is that no-one has really tried to develop a clear picture of what the country might look like ten years from now if the best possible outcome has been realised - becoming a fully developed nation.
What does being fully developed mean?
Even a number of fully-developed nations struggle to define what it means. In essence it means having the right sort of infrastructure and systems in place to ensure that the country derives the greatest economic and social benefits in the conditions that prevail at the time. In other words if your business sector is out-of date and doing things that are no longer relevant to what the market wants ten years from now, then this will result in business failures and economic decline. On the other hand, if businesses are positioned so that they are in tune with areas of strong growth in that future time, the economy will be strong and able to sustain a greater amount of social development and support, providing society is willing to see this happen. This requires a great deal of foresight.
What about education?
This is an area that is fundamental to being ‘future fit’. How young people today are equipped for life will play a big part in the shape of any country ten to twenty years in the future. If they are poorly equipped, the future will not be particularly rosy. If they are well equipped, then the future will be a lot rosier! So we have a number of scenarios that could play out. Let’s look at one negative and one positive one.
‘Business as Usual Education’
This is a negative scenario because the education system is failing young people around the world. Too much of the focus is on individual learning, cramming and regurgitating information, and providing an environment which fails to stimulate modern young people who have very short attention spans. It is too ‘word heavy’ for a generation that thinks in pictures. Many teachers are very traditional and are teaching the past, not the future. As a result we have a generation of ‘intellectual zombies’, drop-outs and poorly equipped young people who have little to contribute to the future of a country. This is not just a T&T problem. Singapore had a major problem pre-2000 with its young people because they were never taught to think, merely to regurgitate what they had been forced to memorise (they have now adopted a different approach). How can a country hope to succeed in future if the upcoming generations cannot think, read, write and solve challenges?
‘Future Fit Education’
This is a positive scenario where all learning is done within a five to ten year forward view context. Young people are encouraged to think about how the world may change and what roles they might like to play in the years to come. They work in groups to think about how things might change and learn how to solve problems and challenges that are likely to be faced along the way. They use modern visual-based technologies to learn and communicate and become part of a mutually beneficial ‘community of interest’ which they can participate in 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. They are mentored and encouraged rather than ‘told what to do’. As a result they can think, be flexible and adaptable, be able to cope with change instead of being left behind, and really contribute to the country’s future.
What might this mean for T&T?
Generally speaking, the current education system in T&T is failing young people. There is a huge divide emerging between the ‘privileged’ and the ‘less-advantaged’. In some secondary schools we have been told 70% of young people have significant literacy problems - and we have experienced it first hand in many workshops with young people. They are becoming a time-bomb that is ready to explode and impact adversely on society. They are not ‘future fit’ and are becoming a frustrated, angry, and a ‘doh care’ generation. We need to move much faster towards the positive scenario!
Useful link:The Singapore experience
Key Question: If the country’s kids can’t read and write properly how can T&T become a fully developed nation?
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