Educators must prepare students for change

It's not enough to just worry about how your revenues are going to look at the end of this quarter, and it's also not enough to be thinking about how your business is going to adapt and change to the new realities in the coming years.

We need to take a serious step back and also analyze the state of education and what it's going to mean (and look like) going forward. None of us are going to have any modicum of success if we can't hire, develop and nurture the right talent out of school. It's also going to be increasingly more challenging if those young people are not prepared and ready for the new realities of the new workplace.

While in New York City for a series of meetings, I had an interesting conversation with a senior publishing executive who has a son who is about to complete his MBA at an Ivy League school. The problem (according to this executive) is: "Where is he going to work? All of those jobs are either gone, or people with tons more experience are willing to do them for a fraction of what they were paying only six months ago."

It's not an uncommon question, and the obvious fear in this father's tone of voice is becoming more common in conversations with other business professionals who have adult children about to enter the workforce. The reality is that the education system is going through some of its most dramatic changes since the industrial revolution and -- at the same time -- is struggling to keep its teaching as up-to-date and relevant as possible.

And with all of these dramatic changes in business, universities are even more strapped when it comes to funding new technology, bringing in the right people to teach it and providing results in a sad world where teachers are simply not paid and respected at the levels they should be.

Britain's Sir Ken Robinson is widely regarded as one of the leading thinkers on the topic of education, creativity, leadership and innovation. In his must-see presentation at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference a few years back, he stated that many young adults entering the post-secondary school system today will get jobs that don't exist yet.

The world is changing that fast, and there are some education facilities and teachers doing everything they can to keep their students either ahead of the curve or, at the very least, using these newer tools and technology.

Another great story from Robinson's TED talk is about a young girl, Gillian, who struggled in school back in the '30s. She just could not concentrate. If it were 2009, this child would probably be diagnosed with some form of ADHD. Her mother took her to see a specialist. Here's how Robinson describes what happened next:

"As they (the doctor and mother) went out of the room, he turned on the radio sitting on his desk. When they got out of the room, he said to her mother, 'Just stand and watch her.' The minute they left, she was on her feet, moving to the music. They watched for a few minutes, and he turned to her mother and said, 'You know, Mrs. Lynne, Gillian isn't sick. She's a dancer. Take her to a dance school.'"

Gillian is actually Gillian Lynne -- the choreographer behind Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. Gillian's mom wound up sending her to dance school, and Robinson concludes: "Somebody else might have put her on medication and told her to calm down."

Many schools are doing everything they can to reflect the new reality of a world where professionals are working from anywhere and everywhere.

The bigger question is: Are young people really getting the right education for this brave new world, and how ready are businesses for the next wave of employees, who will work, virtually, collaboratively, through their iPhones, and -- to certain extent -- without paper?

Mitch Joel is president of Twist Image. His first book, Six Pixels of Separation, named after his blog and podcast, will be published in the fall.

-- For Canwest News Service

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 28, 2009 G2