How Do We Prepare Our Children for Their Future?

How do we prepare children for their future? At this point in time, we are in the age of the knowledge worker. What does it mean to be a knowledge worker? A knowledge worker is a person who uses their expertise, paired with critical thinking to creatively and collaboratively address current challenges. The human capital that is used in these positions is thinking. 

Our world is changing more rapidly than ever. Innovation and design thinking need to be a regular part of schooling. Students need the opportunity not only to develop a strong foundation of skills, but then offered the opportunity to use those skills to create. Knowledge workers are becoming more and more prevalent in our society as much of our world becomes automated. We need all schools to offer opportunities to create, design, evaluate….. All of our higher order thinking processes. We need to eliminate the stand and deliver methods of teaching. Children need to actively drive their own learning as they have since they were born. Rare is the parent who is offering direct instruction to toddlers so they can learn how to walk, climb or talk. Children know how to learn. It’s time we step out of the way and facilitate the process instead of trying to control it.