United States even in midst of the financial crisis is the only nation to be still labeled as the superpower. Also in the foreseeable future USA would continue to maintain this position. No doubt that this position would be challenged by emerging nations specially China. Some of my experiences show me that this country and its people make conscience investment to maintain that edge over the world. One area that I see this being done at the grass root level is in education.
We need to understand the world is rapidly changing in the last 300-400 years and continuous to do so. The rate of change or the first derivative is much higher in the modern times than it was in 1000 year back or even before. Why am I getting to this discussion? Because it is important for one to understand that human beings need to develop (be trained) certain skills that would enable them to earn for themselves and make money. (Wages are higher for the skills in demand)
Historically, with agriculture, industrialization one needed a slew or battery of workers who would follow a particular pattern of work and continue to do it for the entire day. Thus our schooling system was so designed. We were made to reach to school early in the morning, punctuality was paramount. We wore uniforms so our individualities were suppressed (as in factories) and we were all being told what to do what to read, how to do and how are behavior should be, combined with other rules and discipline that we needed to maintain. Our schools were the feeder system, a training ground, for the industries.
Economic value of the skills of being disciplined, following order, not thinking, mundane working, was high, hence higher monetary reward for it. Thus that is why you would find your grandparents, in some cases your own parents all about discipline, no questioning of the established order. But now the world is changing, going back to my previous point that the rate of change in the world is much higher. In simple words, the world is changing quickly.
Our economies have changed, we moved from Agriculture to Industrialization to Services and now as some predict we are about to move into an Experience economy. Those who perfected agriculture could command a premium from those who were still dependent on hunting and other primitive methods of survival like food gathering.
Then the world caught up so Europe moved into industrialization and they could command a premium for their goods and this is one of the reasons that they could colonize a large part of the world.
But then again in the recent past of 50-100 years the manufacturing industries started losing the battle and it was the Services sector that was commanding the premium and the western world was soon to adapt and prepared for it and were ready for the change. The activity of lower economic value was outsourced to the emerging nations like Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Philippines and others. And the western world continued to reap large premium for the Services sector. I predict that as the world now moves the Experience sector would be the next big thing. Again these countries would be able to maintain their advantage as they have a better standard of living, law and order and general civil liberties. More people will want to experience these experiences.
The above thesis can be easily verified from how the composition of GDP changed over the years for these western countries. Today most of their GDP is largely from Services Sector.
So what happened, where am I going? What happened to my primary point of discussion? With all this we just forgot to reform our education system, they still produce for the manufacturing sector, producing a skill set which now does not hold that much economic value. My great respect for the people of the United States that they are working to revamp their education system that can produce kids with skills sets that are a better match for the current and the future economic environment. Thus the country is working hard to change the system, and thus be able to maintain its super power position for at least the next 30-40 years.
For all those reading this post, it is important to realize that to gain more economic wealth it is important that we realize that the rules of the game have changed and a new set of skills are required.
So what are those skills sets? I am not an authority or even qualified to claim the magic formula but for sure I can speculate. Today creative qualities, teamwork, initiative, openness, experimentation have a higher economic value. Creative qualities not just the stereotype advertising, marketing, but in all fields, new ways to manage a business, new ways to run a factory, new ways in education, new inventions, new leaderships, new ways to motivate etc.
I claim, although not in a scientific manner; looking at the salary scales today, those jobs where we are told what to do, are low paying jobs (clerical, blue collar, etc). But instead, high paying jobs require us to think from the moment we enter our offices and till the time we leave, nobody tells us what to do for the entire day. We need to think of solutions to problems, find for inefficiencies, fix them, and anticipate business needs, prepare plans, initiate new things, all by our own without somebody telling us what to do. We need to think of everything on our own. Sometimes we need to experiment, sometimes just initiate, acknowledging lack of complete information, try new technologies, sometimes innovate our way out in our daily work lives.
Thus what is this nation (USA) doing to face this fast paced changing reality? It is encouraging its children, its future generations to play and learn. Because playing is one activity that a child does without the fear of failure, learns by doings, trying, experimenting, and moreover is not stuck by inertia. Not concerned with what others think of him and just plays for fun.
Today science is not being taught just in the class room but out in the open. Experiments are not just memorized or visualized but in a playful manner performed. This training that American kids receive from their early ages remains with them forever. This would be a recipe for the nation to continue to lead the world in technology, new management ideas, Nobel prizes and economic wage premium over other nations of the world.
The advantages with this training are that kids grow into being more flexible individuals, open to changes, thinkers, and starters. Also they tend to think outside the box and challenge the established ways. They quickly realize that there could be more than one effective way to deal with the situation or one might have to make decisions, not one but many, sometimes, based on untested assumptions, or even lack of complete information. For example, in a game where a group of kids are asked to use the available tools in a garage and use them to build a miniature city or bridge in the open. This quickly teaches them the qualities of leadership, organization, teamwork, management etc.
My post is underweighting the skill to “unlearn" but it’s actually very important. I believe moreover important because with this rate of change, people might have to actually unlearn skills that have become obsolete or comes in way of the new required skills. For instance many jobs today are not about 9 to 5 (one needs to unlearn this expectation) but continuous all day all time, anywhere and everywhere. This is facilitated via blackberry, I phone, work from home culture.
This particular format of education is completely different from the existing school system in so many countries. It produces people more apt to face the new economy.
If anybody has other ideas, please leave a comment. Also open to discussions. Let’s discuss!!!
Dedicated to my niece and nephew.... Vriti and Heet.lso in the foreseeable future USA could continue to maintain this position. No doubt that this position would be challenged by emerging nations specially China. Some of my experiences show me that this country and its people make conscience investment to maintain that edge over the world. One area that I see this being done at the grass root level is in education.
We need to understand the world is rapidly changing in the last 300-400 years and continuous to do so. The rate of change or the first derivative is much higher in the modern times than it was in 1000 year back or even before. Why am I getting to this discussion? Because it is important for one to understand that human beings need to develop (be trained) certain skills that would enable them to earn for themselves and make money. (Wages are higher for the skills in demand)
Historically, with agriculture, industrialization one needed a slew or battery of workers who would follow a particular pattern of work and continue to do it for the entire day. Thus our schooling system was so designed. We were made to reach to school early in the morning, punctuality was paramount. We wore uniforms so our individualities were suppressed (as in factories) and we were all being told what to do what to read, how to do and how are behavior should be, combined with other rules and discipline that we needed to maintain. Our schools were the feeder system, a training ground, for the industries.
Economic value of the skills of being disciplined, following order, not thinking, mundane working, was high, hence higher monetary reward for it. Thus that is why you would find your grandparents, in some cases your own parents all about discipline, no questioning of the established order. But now the world is changing, going back to my previous point that the rate of change in the world is much higher. In simple words, the world is changing quickly.
Our economies have changed, we moved from Agriculture to Industrialization to Services and now as some predict we are about to move into an Experience economy. Those who perfected agriculture could command a premium from those who were still dependent on hunting and other primitive methods of survival like food gathering.
Then the world caught up so Europe moved into industrialization and they could command a premium for their goods and this is one of the reasons that they could colonize a large part of the world.
But then again in the recent past of 50-100 years the manufacturing industries started losing the battle and it was the Services sector that was commanding the premium and the western world was soon to adapt and prepared for it and were ready for the change. The activity of lower economic value was outsourced to the emerging nations like Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Philippines and others. And the western world continued to reap large premium for the Services sector. I predict that as the world now moves the Experience sector would be the next big thing. Again these countries would be able to maintain their advantage as they have a better standard of living, law and order and general civil liberties. More people will want to experience these experiences.
The above thesis can be easily verified from how the composition of GDP changed over the years for these western countries. Today most of their GDP is largely from Services Sector.
So what happened, where am I going? What happened to my primary point of discussion? With all this we just forgot to reform our education system, they still produce for the manufacturing sector, producing a skill set which now does not hold that much economic value. My great respect for the people of the United States that they are working to revamp their education system that can produce kids with skills sets that are a better match for the current and the future economic environment. Thus the country is working hard to change the system, and thus be able to maintain its super power position for at least the next 30-40 years.
For all those reading this post, it is important to realize that to gain more economic wealth it is important that we realize that the rules of the game have changed and a new set of skills are required.
So what are those skills sets? I am not an authority or even qualified to claim the magic formula but for sure I can speculate. Today creative qualities, teamwork, initiative, openness, experimentation have a higher economic value. Creative qualities not just the stereotype advertising, marketing, but in all fields, new ways to manage a business, new ways to run a factory, new ways in education, new inventions, new leaderships, new ways to motivate etc.
I claim, although not in a scientific manner; looking at the salary scales today, those jobs where we are told what to do, are low paying jobs (clerical, blue collar, etc). But instead, high paying jobs require us to think from the moment we enter our offices and till the time we leave, nobody tells us what to do for the entire day. We need to think of solutions to problems, find for inefficiencies, fix them, and anticipate business needs, prepare plans, initiate new things, all by our own without somebody telling us what to do. We need to think of everything on our own. Sometimes we need to experiment, sometimes just initiate, acknowledging lack of complete information, try new technologies, sometimes innovate our way out in our daily work lives.
Thus what is this nation (USA) doing to face this fast paced changing reality? It is encouraging its children, its future generations to play and learn. Because playing is one activity that a child does without the fear of failure, learns by doings, trying, experimenting, and moreover is not stuck by inertia. Not concerned with what others think of him and just plays for fun.
Today science is not being taught just in the class room but out in the open. Experiments are not just memorized or visualized but in a playful manner performed. This training that American kids receive from their early ages remains with them forever. This would be a recipe for the nation to continue to lead the world in technology, new management ideas, Nobel prizes and economic wage premium over other nations of the world.
The advantages with this training are that kids grow into being more flexible individuals, open to changes, thinkers, and starters. Also they tend to think outside the box and challenge the established ways. They quickly realize that there could be more than one effective way to deal with the situation or one might have to make decisions, not one but many, sometimes, based on untested assumptions, or even lack of complete information. For example, in a game where a group of kids are asked to use the available tools in a garage and use them to build a miniature city or bridge in the open. This quickly teaches them the qualities of leadership, organization, teamwork, management etc.
My post is underweighting the skill to “unlearn" but it’s actually very important. I believe moreover important because with this rate of change, people might have to actually unlearn skills that have become obsolete or comes in way of the new required skills. For instance many jobs today are not about 9 to 5 (one needs to unlearn this expectation) but continuous all day all time, anywhere and everywhere. This is facilitated via blackberry, I phone, work from home culture.
This particular format of education is completely different from the existing school system in so many countries. It produces people more apt to face the new economy.
If anybody has other ideas, please leave a comment. Also open to discussions. Let’s discuss!!!
Dedicated to my niece and nephew.... Vriti and Heet.
