4IR, if at all, how do we prepare for the fourth Industrial Revolution
My newsletter from last week seemed to resonate with parents, who fed back to me, their thoughts and enjoyment of this topic and the role Mina Lopato plays in challenging processes. While schooling and education resound with a flux of differing and dynamic ideologies and methodologies, the one thing that remains constant is...reality
Kerry J Kennedy, a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Johannesburg, wrote a very interesting article about the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). This is a reality of our times. It crosses continents and affects humanity, from playgroups through to retirement. People are affected favourably and adversely by the changing needs of industry and the impact this has on educational values and goals.
Kennedy says, "Schools also have an important role in preparing students for 4IR. The key skills and values are creativity, critical thinking and problem solving – these have been widely endorsed and there should be nothing in the school curriculum that does not facilitate these skills and values. For example, many people advocate computer coding as a component of the 4IR curriculum, but this misses the point. If computer coding leads to innovative, creative and critical thinking then it has a role to play, if it is about the routine application of rules then it does not. A robot can apply rules – computer coding must contain elements that use human skills as well as technical skills. This raises a key issue. Along with the skills and values, there must be one other key component: the curriculum must teach students what it means to be human. Many commentators have made the point that if a robot can do it, it’s not worth teaching. What makes humans human and how can they be more so: this is an essential complement to being a creative, critical problem solver."
I am all for the 4IR, but I am also for humanity, more specifically, I am for a balance of both. We need to keep up with the changes around us, but hold value for what got us to a place where those changes became both possible and necessary in the first place. We need to retain our humanity and show value for its uniqueness. When this is ingrained in children, from an early age, when humanness is ingrained in humanity, we can ride the wave of change instead of losing ourselves in its chaos.
On the other hand, Professor Alex Broadbent, Executive Dean in the Faculty of Humanities, Director of the African Centre of Epistemology of Science and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Johannesburg isn't even convinced 4IR will even happen...
“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts”