“Futurologists” Should Replace “Teachers”

We’ve moved from Agriculture, to Industrial, to Technological. Now it’s time for the Quantum age.

Photo by Dan Cristian Pădureț on Unsplash

Like dropping a Mentos candy into a 2-Liter of Coca-Cola, the pressure is building up for a change with roles and expectations of educators. Again. The same old approaches are being challenged more and more as we learn more and more. Totally appropriate. Given our current era, I would love to see more discussion and preparation for “futurologists” to potentially replace traditional “teachers.” I think it could benefit the next generation of learners and innovators. After all, the evolution across agriculture, industrial and technological (aka second industrial) revolutions happened, and we embraced the change with enthusiasm.

Photo by Christopher Burns on Unsplash

During the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, secondary school education was almost non-existent in the United States. To receive an education, you had to be from the privileged few while everyone else was working. Not to mention, teaching was primarily focused on raising basic literacy, religion and patriotism.

As the Industrial Revolution progressed, we saw the natural need for a more skilled and specialized workforce. This is when secondary schools started to change their curriculum to prepare the youth for the workforce. There was a heavy emphasis on practical skills, vocational training, and a continued focus on basic literacy. You can read more about my perspective on that in my previous article.

Public Schools are not the Problem

As a country we never explicitly say that we support “tracking” and “ability grouping” because it became a tool for segregation and disenfranchisement of minority groups.