It is no secret that the future of jobs or employment is changing. The days of mugging up entire text books, sitting for standardized exams and seeking a government job to retire with a pension are over. Whether by choice or due to politico-economic circumstances or other factors beyond our control, change is the new norm.
Humans are hardwired to seek stability and to regard change with suspicion, so some level of anxiety about this trend is expected and understandable. But the truth is that this sea of a change is a huge opportunity for those who embrace it.
All parents would want the best for their children and they do influence the outlook of their children. Social conditioning that has been going on for generations now is another reason why most people struggle to embrace change.
The young and talented lot brimming with new ideas and creativity are forced to give up on their passion because the parents think seeking and landing a government job is the ultimate purpose of them being born into this world, because the parents want the best for them. But the times are changing. Very few parents have the courage to let their children turn their passions into their career.
The end result here is that some do crack the competitive exams, some don’t but somehow land a government job, while most end up wasting the prime of their lives chasing a goal that they were not called for and end up frustrated, disillusioned and a liability to their parents and the society.
The saddest part is that the children have no time to learn new skills while pursuing their academic career. There is no one single answer to this dilemma here but it ultimately comes down to finding the intersection of what the children are most passionate about and where they have the aptitude.
Now, economists are all predicting that the economy in the future will be a skills economy and those who lack the skills, whether they be academically qualified or not, will find it hard to survive in that kind of an economy.
This new economy will be dictated by technology. It is predicted that Artificial Intelligence, automation, robotics, machine learning, 3D printing and more is going to change the way people work in the years to come.
Meanwhile, we have a population of young people here who are being brainwashed into believing that there is no future for them if one does not land a government job. It is hard to believe that most of our young people do not even have the skills to earn a living in the now while the world is preparing for the future skills economy.