How do we future proof our children?

BySCMP Events

Reading Time:3 minutes

Published: 5:38pm, 22 Dec 2021Updated: 1:27pm, 3 Jan 2022

By John Chew, CEO, The Kelly Yang Project

There is a Cantonese expression that translates roughly as “pave the way” and is used to describe an overzealous parent planning for the future of a child. You’d find such a parent queuing outside a school in the sweltering heat for an admissions application or chasing down portfolio enhancing activities to make their child more appealing. The goal? Acceptance into an elite school like Harvard, Stanford, or Oxford to lock in the good life. This is the plan for many well-meaning parents. However, in this changing world where business empires are created by college dropouts, and where the job market may be radically disrupted by technology, and where the rules for work are changing, how do we prepare our children for this uncertain future? How do we future proof our children?

Who needs robots?
Artificial Intelligence threatens to eliminate jobs in the future. Auditors, lawyers, and many white collar professionals have jobs that may be replaced in the future by AI. However, the creative output of a writer, or inventor isn’t something AI can replicate. The old industrial and factory model of the workplace is being replaced by leaner organizations. Employers can now cherry pick from a large number of college graduates pouring into the job market each year. Graduates will have to demonstrate that they are resilient, critical thinking, and technical with strong communication skills.

Music, creative writing, debate, art while not seen as having immediate utility in the minds of tiger parents actually have tremendous value. Any creative activity that a young person can engage in for its own sake, and get enjoyment out of will in actuality be laying the foundation for creativity, innovation and critical thinking. Reading voraciously is also essential.

Stand and Deliver
For companies with the most desirable roles for ambitious graduates, teamwork is important. Meta, Google, Amazon, Tencent are all organizations creating the type of technology that will transform work, play and learning. None of this technology is created by one person. It is always going to require a team of talented individuals. Yet, in such an environment, the voice of one person to lead, guide is also needed. Organizations will always want to magnify the contributions of a talented creator and innovator, and this is done through leadership. Leaders set tone, and increasingly lead teams to create the most innovative technology the world has ever seen.
Athletics are an excellent way to cultivate such a trait in young people. Schools and universities are replete with such opportunities, and students should take advantage.

Communication Skills

Speaking and writing effectively takes time and effort. It takes years for a young person to develop their literary voice. Young students need to learn the rules of their native language. In school, they are exposed to the best voices and minds of people of their culture through books. Reading allows young learners to stand on the shoulders of giants all with the purpose of helping a young person know themselves. A seemingly authentic literary voice is really the result of a young person’s reading and is not as unique as one may think. Reading is so important. Providing ample opportunities to write is critical to developing the important skill of writing. Keeping a journey of one’s thoughts through a diary is a good way to develop authentic expression, while keeping a record of one’s growth. In conjunction with reading, this is an excellent way to develop skills of expression needed for future success.

Innovators and Creators will be the new elites

The future will be bright for young people, confident in their own ability, that think of new ways to do things, and create. In the last 20 years, technology has radically changed the way we talk to one another, play, travel, buy groceries, etc. All of these technologies began with a person that observably saw that there is a better way to do something.

How do we foster or create the conditions where innovators and creators can be created? The formula is a tried and true one: loving families, healthy school environment with plenty of opportunities to read, write and play. These days, there are opportunities aplenty for young children to take an idea from start to finish, and to incubate a small business. Besides challenging, and helping children to grow into innovators and creators, they will also be accumulating the types of experiences looked very favorably upon by the best schools and organizations in the world.

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