Future-proof your degree: why these qualifications will stand the test of time

The world of work is changing, says Zoe Thomas. So, are there qualifications that will stand the test of time? We investigate to find out.

As any parent whose well-intended advice has been met by a withering eye roll knows, telling teenagers what to do is best approached with caution. In the current technological revolution, offering your teen careers guidance is even more of a minefield.

Automation is reshaping the world of work and the traditional nine-to-five is giving way to more independent ways of working. Under the “gig economy” banner, task-based contract jobs are on the rise, beyond the Uber and Deliveroo boom that has come to represent this type of working – encompassing consultants across the professions, freelancers and small-business owners.

Economists say young people should plan for five careers in a lifetime. Three years ago, the World Economic Forum predicted 65 per cent of primary-school-age children will end up working in jobs that don’t yet exist. In this shifting professional arena, are any qualifications more future-proof than others?

Three career coaches who work with young people give their expert opinions:

Carolyn Parry

Finding a career that focuses on a problem that is really hard to solve is the secret to a successful future, believes Parry, director of Career Alchemy’s INSPiRED Teenager career- and life-coaching programme: “If you want to find a good opportunity in life, go and work on something that is hard to solve; a) it will give you a challenge that will keep you going, but b) it focuses you on a purpose.”

As for which fields, look at the big issues addressed in 2015’s United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): improving health and education, clean water and sanitation; reducing inequality; spurring economic growth; and conserving the environment – problems whose solutions are long-term and with a higher purpose than salary alone.

This could mean doing a job such as working in human resources for a water company overseas, suggests Parry, thus linking to the UN’s clean water and sanitation SDG. For more information on what these SDGs are, check out their website.

“Gen Z and millennials want a sense of belonging and purpose, being able to contribute and make a difference – that’s the language I’ve heard from talking with thousands of students, teenagers and parents,” Parry notes. Advances in robotics and artificial intelligence will mean some jobs are on the way out, but roles needed to develop new technologies and new solutions are expanding.

"The stuff that makes us different from machines, such as emotional intelligence and caring, will be vital in the future jobs market, thinks Parry, as will creativity and continual learning. Ask yourself: 'Am I creative? Am I resilient? Do I have grit? Do I have bounce-back-ability?'" Parry advises: “If you have a purpose and a focus on what you are doing, all that happens by default, because you are fascinated by the problem.”

We need to embrace technology in our future careers
Most of the young people Parry speaks to are puzzled about their futures: “Then you add parental confusion – they are trying to help their child based on their own experience, which is sometimes 20, 30 years out of date. The old wisdom that if you go into a profession, you’re safe, is no longer valid. Safety comes from finding out what you are good at and what you care about and linking those together. And safety comes from being able to keep an eye on the horizon to see what trends and changes are happening, and then having the wit to keep learning and stretching as they develop. It’s time to look at the world a bit differently.”

Dave Cordle

Career development professional Dave Cordle also thinks this ability to manage changes is the most important skill young people need: “The actual topic studied is of less interest than who you are as an individual. Whatever qualifications you come out of university with, or whatever apprenticeship you get, soft skills will help you stand out – things like critical thinking, problem solving.

Cordle advises young people and their parents to keep a log of their achievements – not just academic ones–and the impact they make: “If they are involved with Scouting, Girlguiding or the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, or if they play sports or musical instruments – those demonstrate employability skills and separate them from their peers. “Young people want to know how to have more confidence; they want to know how to have self-belief. I run a group, Discover the Diamond, for kids in Years 9 and 10. One of the nicest comments I’ve got on a feedback form is: ‘I’ve discovered it’s OK to be proud of what I’ve done.’ That’s a British thing – we are told from a young age not to blow our own trumpet, but in the jobs market, it’s demonstrating that you make a difference.”

Asking what young people are passionate about and how they can bring it into their work is a great way to start, advises Cordle: “As parents, we also have to get over our traditional view of ‘you’ve got to work for someone else’. A lot of people will find themselves part of the gig economy, doing consultancy work and having two or three organisations that they do that for. There is an upside to that type of work and it seems to be the way things are going.”

He stresses the idea of embracing technology: “We seem to live in fear of technology, rather than saying, ‘OK, it’s is a tool.’ Technology is taking over the number-crunching parts of accountancy, for example, but successful accountants are becoming the trusted business adviser and moving into that more people-oriented relationship with their clients.”

Denise Taylor

When figuring out what course to study, young people should think in a broad sense about what they might want to do when they graduate, advises Denise Taylor, a chartered psychologist and career coach.

Rather than thinking about a specific job, get into the habit of thinking about a job family: “It may be ‘something about law’, or ‘something about agriculture’ or ‘something about marketing’. And I say to my young clients: this is not for ever; this is for the first few years that you’re working. Choose the degree that is going to help you get to those sorts of jobs.”

If your child totally has no idea about what they want to do, Taylor suggests doing something that will keep their options open: “The other thing I always say to my young clients is: if you’re going to be working until you are 80, does it really matter if you haven’t got everything together by the time you are 30?”

Graduate Prospects head of higher education intelligence Charlie Ball is sanguine about the effect of new technologies on the jobs market: “It’s not happening overnight. It will cost jobs in some areas, but other roles will grow. When the internet first happened, people predicted we would all lose our jobs, but we didn’t – people still have jobs. And we’ve got to bear in mind the strength of our degrees from UK universities, which are highly valued around the world.”

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How home schooling has become mainstream

Tiana Kubik, second from left, begins a lesson with son Griffin, 6, while Thomas Kubik walks through their van and prepares to read to daughter Adair, 2, inside their van.(Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune photos)
Griffin Kubik spent two years at Chicago Waldorf preschool before his parents pulled the plug on his formal education.

The 6-year-old now spends his days with his parents and his 2-year-old sister, Adair, traveling in their newly purchased van.

“For our family, the experience of learning while traveling outweighs the benefits of going to school,” said Griffin’s mom, Tiana Kubik, co-owner of TK Photography, which is based in Chicago. The family’s trips include visiting Toronto, Montreal, Banff and Jasper, Canada.

Griffin is one of about 3.5 million home-schooled children in the nation. The number of kids who are home-schooled has surpassed children at charter schools and has been growing by 3 to 8% each year since 2012, according to the National Center for Education Statistics and analyses from Brian Ray, home-schooling researcher at the National Home Education Research Institute.

That growing popularity can be attributed to a number of factors, ranging from parents’ ideology to more practical issues, including globally focused families who don’t want to tie their children to a set way of learning, school-based issues and a desire for religion-based education, said Stephen Spriggs, managing director of William Clarence Education, a London-based education consultancy that works with families around the world.

“It’s becoming more acceptable and mainstream, so parents who previously wanted to but couldn’t are now open to seeing what options there are,” Spriggs said.

Home schooling also can be altered to fit a family’s lifestyle. There are parents who teach kids at home loosely and others who do a full home-schooling program delivered by tutors and teachers in the home, Spriggs said.

“School isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach,” he said.

The Kubiks practice unschooling, a form of home education that allows the child’s interests and curiosities to create the path for learning. They live out of their van and work on reading and writing while they travel, but they also try to go with the flow, depending on their location and their children’s interests.

“Then, we help them dive into those topics,” Tiana Kubik said. “We also sign the kids up for activities if we are in any one area for more than a couple of weeks.”

Even some traditional teachers are home-schooling their children. Genola Johnson and her husband taught public school overseas, and Johnson said that she appreciates the safety and unique learning opportunities available in the home-school community.

“No matter if the school is urban or rural, safety is a serious issue with public schools,” Johnson said. “And parents don’t want to get a call or see on the news or social media that their child’s school is under attack.”

She also said class sizes, which are reaching more than 30, is a concern and that each child has unique needs.

“This is really impossible to manage,” Johnson said, adding that it’s part of the reason parents are choosing to home-school their children.

But home schooling isn’t problem-free.

As public school teachers, Johnson said she and her husband are very familiar with scheduling and routine. But this was a major problem for their fifth- and ninth-graders. Setting up a schedule and sticking to it is very different when it comes to dealing with your own children, she said.

Johnson suggests creating a set schedule for home-school. For example: breakfast from 7:30 to 8 a.m.; schoolwork from 8 a.m. to noon, then break for lunch; 60 minutes to be in nature and for physical activity; then complete remaining school assignments from 2:30 to 4 p.m.

“Assignments can easily get out of control,” Johnson said. “Your child loses interest and is bored and nonperforming, which can be due to no social interaction. You have to find ways for them to socialize with their peer groups regardless of them having siblings at home.”

In addition, home schooling may not work for every child, just like school may not be the perfect fit for everyone, said Lisa Lightner, a Philadelphia-based special education advocate. When a child is struggling in school and the parent is tired of battling the school district, home schooling is often considered, she said.

“But what parents often don’t understand is that in most states, if you home-school, you are giving up a lot of possibilities as far as therapies and special ed,” Lightner said.

Before home-schooling a child with special needs, she suggested checking the regulations in your state to see if cyber schooling and other options are available so your child can still receive the assistance he or she needs.

Home schooling can also become very expensive. In the early years, parents may consider teaching their own children, but as they advance — or as the child needs classes or other opportunities for socializing — the fees can quickly add up.

“It can be expensive if you engage professional tutors to deliver a set program of study, so thoroughly researching all possible costs involved prior to taking the steps into home schooling can make the situation easier to manage and alleviate any financial stress that could arise in the future,” Spriggs said.

Many of those who have mastered home schooling, however, said that they were grateful for the option.

Michelle Fishburne, national director of public relations and partnerships at the Brian Hamilton Foundation, home-schooled her oldest daughter, Alexis Lewis, from first through ninth grade, and again for junior year. Alexis thrived, Fishburne said.

“She could pursue the subjects and skills that interested her as deeply as she wanted without having to truncate them because the lesson was over,” Fishburne said. “Her interests are incredibly varied, so home schooling was a great fit in terms of letting her deeply explore those interests as early and as often as she wanted.”

To help her with her education, Fishburne used Discovery Education’s streaming services, which enabled Alexis to learn at her own level, despite age.

While there are plenty of online schooling options, it’s also essential that local schools are on board with home schooling, said Randy Speck, a school superintendent in Michigan who has been with private schools for 10 years, and has spent the last seven years in public schools. All states have different laws and regulations regarding home schooling.

“At my last school district, we built a program that grew to over 1,000 students,” Speck said. “While the growth was great, the important part was that it allowed families who were choosing a certain form of education the option.”

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'Woke' Education Corrupts Students

"Progressives" replaced education with indoctrination, as even some leftists discover. 

“For decades now, America has been investing ever-growing fortunes into its K-12 education system in exchange for steadily worse results.” —from the book The New School by Glenn Reynolds

Journalist George Packer, who proved his progressive bona fides in a decades-long career writing for leftist publications, has written a lengthy article for The Atlantic regarding his personal discovery of something American conservatives have known for decades: Many of America’s public schools are nothing more than leftist indoctrination factories.

“When the Culture War Comes for the Kids” describes Packer’s personal experience with NYC’s public school system, where the “organized pathologies of adults, including yours — sometimes known as politics — find a way to infect the world of children,” he reveals.

Yet while Packer’s article is devoted to machinations of a school system, he also divulges the almost pathological levels of narcissism, self-aggrandizement, and arrogance of New York’s cultural elites, who lie awake at night wondering if they can get their two-year-old children into preschools costing $30,000 a year, even if it takes “gaming the special needs system” to do so.

Their angst is palpable. “The pressure of meritocracy made us apply to private schools when our son was 2 — not because we wanted him to attend private preschool, but because, in New York City, where we live, getting him into a good public kindergarten later on would be even harder, and if we failed, by that point most of the private-school slots would be filled,” Packer writes.

Packer soon realized meritocracy had nothing to do with it, noting that in recent decades “a broadening of opportunity” had been displaced by “a new class structure in which professionals pass on their money, connections, ambitions, and work ethic to their children, while less educated families fall further behind, with little chance of seeing their children move up.”

“When parents on the fortunate ledge of this chasm gaze down, vertigo stuns them,” he adds. “Far below they see a dim world of processed food, obesity, divorce, addiction, online-education scams, stagnant wages, outsourcing, rising morbidity rates — and they pledge to do whatever they can to keep their children from falling.”

Not exactly. They won’t abandon a progressive ideology that ultimately ensures a societal split into rich and poor, with the latter dismissed as “deplorables” who refuse to embrace the elitist world of intersectionalism and diversity.

A world where social justice trumps meritocracy.

Thus, when the tuition at the preschool in which Packer enrolled his first child passed the $50,000 mark, and soon after his wife gave birth to their second child, he enrolled his kids in public school.

Yet he soon realized his “zoned” public school was a disaster, and he applied to “eight or nine” others. When his wait-listed son finally got a place in one of them Packer was ecstatic, taking additional pride in the fact that the boy was befriending children from different social strata, even as he and his wife wondered whether “we had cheated our son of a better education.”

All remained well until 2014, when a new mood Packer described as “progressive but not hopeful” took hold. “At the heart of the new progressivism was indignation, sometimes rage, about ongoing injustice against groups of Americans who had always been relegated to the outskirts of power and dignity,” he explained.

Packer soon discovered how that new progressivism played out in the classroom. The first thing that troubled him was the backlash against standardized testing, couched as “structurally biased, even racist, because nonwhite students had the lowest scores.” And while he was not on board with the “opt-out” movement, he soon realized it had become “a form of moral absolutism, with little tolerance for dissent,” even as actual meritocracy became the ultimate casualty.

That was only the beginning. Next up, identity politics. He recounted, “When our son was in third or fourth grade, students began to form groups that met to discuss issues based on identity — race, sexuality, disability.”

Then, the transgender agenda. Shortly after a second grade girl insisted she was a boy “almost every bathroom” in the school became gender-neutral. “Where signs had once said boys and girls, they now said students,” Packer reveals.

All of it was done without parental notification. “Parents only heard about it when children started arriving home desperate to get to the bathroom after holding it in all day,” Packer writes. “Girls told their parents mortifying stories of having a boy kick open their stall door. Boys described being afraid to use the urinals.”

Moving on 2016, two things dominated life in the Packer household: the musical “Hamilton” and the election of Donald Trump. Packer describes the former as a balm for the latter, as Packer claims both of his children were wholly traumatized by Trump’s victory.

“We owed our children a thousand apologies. The future looked awful, and somehow we expected them to fix it. Did they really have to face this while they were still in elementary school?” Packer asks.

Not unless the adults make their political biases transparent.

Which is exactly what the school system did to Packer’s son and his fellow students. “He learned about the genocide of Native Americans and slavery,” Packer writes. “But he was never taught about the founding of the republic. He didn’t learn that conflicting values and practical compromises are the lifeblood of self-government.”

It gets worse. “At the year-end share, the fifth graders presented dioramas on all the hard issues of the moment — sexual harassment, LGBTQ rights, gun violence,” Packer reveals. “Our son made a plastic-bag factory whose smokestack spouted endangered animals. Compared with previous years, the writing was minimal and the students, when questioned, had little to say. They hadn’t been encouraged to research their topics, make intellectual discoveries, answer potential counterarguments. The dioramas consisted of cardboard, clay, and slogans.”

Packers first child eventually entered middle school and it didn’t take Packer long to become disenchanted, as Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio and his equally radical School Chancellor Richard Carranza were working furiously to eradicate the “racist” concept of meritocracy, and Packer soon realized the $23 million Carranza spent on anti-bias training was a sham. “One training slide was titled ‘White Supremacy Culture.’ It included ‘Perfectionism,’ ‘Individualism,’ ‘Objectivity,’ and ‘Worship of the Written Word’ among the white-supremacist values that need to be disrupted,” Packer notes.

Ultimately, however, Packer remains myopic. “That pragmatic genius for which Americans used to be known and admired, which included a talent for educating our young — how did it desert us?”

“Progressives” abolished it, Mr. Packer. They replaced education with indoctrination and made academia a place where social justice and woke history flourishes, and reverse racism is celebrated. A place where content of one’s character is less important than the color of one’s skin, or one’s sexual or gender preference.

It is a world you, Mr. Packer, and your fellow elitists have championed for decades, all the “chasms” and “vertigo” that separate the privileged elitists from ordinary Americans fully intended. It’s what being “woke” — as in fully contemptuous of this nation’s customs, culture, traditions, and exceptionalism — is all about.

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