(The third in the series of August crowd-sourced blog posts, by Javier Agüera, Chief Technology Officer & Co-founder, Geeksphone iHQ)
I was born in the 90s. My generation is commonly referred to as the “lost generation” or the “NEETs”, not in education, employment or training. And if you look at the figures, it’s true; youth unemployment has reached a critical point across Europe.
Young people account for two-fifths of the UK’s total unemployment, and the situation is even more critical in my homeland, Spain, where almost 50 per cent of the young workforce is unemployed. More worryingly, 80 per cent of them declare themselves to be happy with this lifestyle.
We’re also called the “C Generation”: the Connected Creators. Thanks to the internet, our impact on the connected world is more powerful than ever. Not only do we have almost-universal access to higher education, which was unthinkable just a few decades ago, but thanks to the internet we can access hexabytes of free information covering almost any field of human knowledge. In fact, it’s safe to say that we are the generation with the most amount of information at our fingertips ever seen.
So, how do the two notions match? The answer is simple: they don’t.
If we wish to make Europe into a worldwide reference in innovation, and a key player among the 21st century economies, we definitely need to pay attention to the challenge of upgrading our educational systems so they are fit for purpose. Rather than providing children with the tools needed to tackle the unexpected and to deal with uncertainty, the world is preparing its children to solve problems that will be outdated by the time they reach the “real world”. That’s not to say that all current methods are entirely worthless. We just need to give them a shake up, taking into account three main lessons:
- First is curiosity. Curiosity should not just be encouraged, but also taught. It isn’t just a matter of wanting to seek information by yourself, but also being able to filter, segregate and prioritize it in an efficient way. Sadly for all of us, the real world doesn’t offer a textbook that contains all of the information needed to pass the exam.
- Next, creativity. This is important, helping us to adapt solutions for new, unseen problems which may not have been approached correctly yet. Let children make mistakes; allow them to step out of the circle sometimes and come back in. As Sir Ken Robinson said: “You will hardly come with anything original unless you are prepared to be wrong.”
- Finally, compromise. Not just with each other, but with the rest of the world. Instagram grew to almost 30 million users in less than two years, but there are still five billion people not connected to the internet. We are technologically privileged, and at some point children need to see what lies outside of the bubble. They need to understand the impact of their choices.
Horizon 2020 and the Digital Agenda are not only about empowering innovation, but also about empowering innovators themselves, and thus there is a moral duty for us to prepare future generations of European citizens as well as possible. The next generation will need to be creative and curious and have the ability to compromise. These skills will enable them firstly to decide, on their own, whether they ought to be entrepreneurs or physicists, investigators or electricians; and then, to be the engine that drives Europe to a brighter future.
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Hi Javier,
Great post. A different education for our children is the key for a more innovative Europe. However, I just would add to your post why it is important for Europe to be innovative: in a constantly evolving world (as you rightly acknowledge in your post), being innovative is crucial to remain competitive. I wrote an article in the Public Policy Blog of Telefónica in which I developed this idea.
http://www.publicpolicy.telefonica.com/blogs/blog/2011/12/22/innovation-and-education-the-road-to-competitiveness/
I hope you enjoy it and please, let me know your thoughts!
Javier, “upgrading our educational systems” is good, but takes a long time. In the mean time, one billion people are already using virtual worlds, the schools of tomorrow. In these worlds people can learn together, talk with each other, and see each others strategies, which is much more interesting, and challenging.
Good article Javier! I think it is our main responsability (the digital natives) to keep on innovating to connect the mismatch between the traditional education we are getting from Universities and the skills demanded by today’s jobs market.
Education is the key , you are right !
And every kid that likes smartphones, iPads , iPhones and Androids must be able to write their own JavaScript, Ajax , Linux and HTML5 applications and smart solutions , it’s like swimming and bicycling, it’s a must.
In Europa, what is the products that you all want to sell ? which products you want to export ? which services ? and I ask this because Germany ( and others ) can loan money to others because they make amazing Mercedes and BMW’s , Siemens turbines and Bayer products, and grow the healthiest natural foods, etc., etc., that’s why they can speak about smart austerity and fiscal discipline : they manufacture products that people around the world want to buy everyday, so again ….. what products will Europa manufacture locally and export ?
In my opinion and as many economists and engineers are saying these days , the first thing is to make Europa self-sufficient in Energy and Foods , 100% Energy and Foods Independent , so Europa must install 250 gigawatts of solar and wind , wave and shallow geothermal electricity systems ( w/ batteries-fuelcells) in about 8.000 square kilometers , mostly in the South of Europa, while in the North they must install another 250 gigawatts of fuel-cells ( plus solar and wind, of course) and a full water re-distribution, so that not even one liter of rain or river floods gets wasted, not even one liter ! and all this will provide the water and power to grow everything the continent needs locally , and the key issue here is that everything is manufactured , installed , grown and consumed locally, inside Europa.
And where are the strong leaders to do something like this ? You and the men and woman of your generation must get together and do this or a similar plan, since the older generation is unable or unwilling to do it, will you do it ?
The questions that the EU Commission and the EU Parliament must ask first is : what products , services and strategy will the EU manufacture and install locally to create the 15 million jobs needed and for vital exports ? which ones and where and how ?
If they can’t even ask and answer these 3 questions today, then we need new leaders right now.
The other side of your argument is that deciding on what one ought to be takes exploration of ones talents and reflection which is a stark contrast to consuming information and content; hexabytes at hyper-speeds. To add to Carlos comment, whom I also agree with that anyone can see examples of ‘digital natives’ (NEET’s or not) participating in the actual innovation of the educational process when you look at wiki communities. http://eworx.tumblr.com/post/30451094285/i-was-born-in-the-80s
Thanks to all for taking the time to read and think about the words above
Truth is, it’s a complex topic, and a handful of paragrphs give just the right space for raising it up to debate (which is a first step).
Eduardo, I am very much in agreement with you. The key fact is change, and being able to react to it in time. For that, a rock-solid formation is necessary, but there are two things that are even more important in my opinion. First is emotional skills, who allow the individual to be conscious of the tools he has been provided and the need of using them wisely. Then morals, as I sincerely believe the economicl crisis we are living sets somehow its foundings onto a lack of professional and personal ethics.
Of course, all of this sounds too philosophical, and as George and John point out, Europe needs to figure out what are her strengths, what is her “key value proposition”. I would say “stability” could be one, if the matter is about competing against LATAM or Africa regions seen as a whole. Even “compromise into sustainability” compared to some of the large countries in the fast-developing far east. But I guess these reasons, which are not even yet so-true at present time, will not be enough even if well established.
I don’t think learning how to program Objective-C for iPhone apps is a critical subject in the school, I even question if it should be in the curricula. Which is much more importnt is teaching the child that he can use the internet among other resources to leanr it, and crete the required atmosphere so that the child starts doing it because he wants to do that, he enjoys doing that, and he is aware of the power of that tool (to some extent, but beyond school homework to be delivered because its what the teacher said).
Roland, Carlos, you are very right. but lets not forget that raditional methods are not useless. Its a matter of perfecting them, not digitalising them with new platmors. Not a matter of changing a book for an iPad, but something much deeper
My email is javier(at)aguera(dot)es , although debating it here feels better so that everybody can contribute