Critical skills for the 21st century
What are the most important skills for humans in the 21ste century? How will we function best in a fast changing world?
According to the World Economic Forum critical thinking and curiosity are the most important skills for each person in the 21st century. Nicely said, but we have a challenge to get those skills back. Much of the teaching and our current educational systems are end up on the following principles:
- Intelligence is the amount of knowledge that you can reproduce
- Conformity is key, both intellectually and socially,
- Truth comes from authority
- Rules and procedures are at the centre
The question is whether this educational mindset is sustainable into the future? In my opinion not. But it will not be easy to change it. We can write beautiful sentences about future skills but the practice is erratic. But that's not a reason to question current systems or at least challenge them. And that is happening now more than ever.
21st century skills
We hear a lot about the 21ste century skills. For many years they have become very popular. What do we think are the most essential skills for the future?
- Learn to adapt (adaptive capacity)
- Critical thinking
- Learn to listen to already existing answers
- Limitless exploring
- Become machine aware
- Collaboration
- believe: feel, empathize and understand
In a world where uncertainty is increasing the only certainty is constant change. To survive people need to excel in their adaptive capacity. Quickly adapt to change and embrace change are essential aspects when you look at the turbulent future. In addition, the skill to question our current world is key. This because our current world is at it's end of it's lifecycle. It needs to be reinvented. So critical thinking should not be missed.
We now see that attention is becoming a scarcity. We live in a society seemingly superficial. Learn to listen and using the good answers that are already there, has become a skill. We are in a world where technology will be able to find any answer to any question. The only question is whether we still ask the right questions and find the right depth in the answer. Explorational skills and unlimited creatifity are an absolutely must in a world that we have to rebuild. Cooperation takes us beyond competition. It is not about individual power but combined force.
The more human dimension is coming back in a world that seems to be dominated by technology. Touch, empathy and understanding are the basis of every human contact and that is something we need to develop again. The shift from the ME-thinking to We-are.
The last skill is that we have to become 'machine aware'. By that I mean that we should be able to understand the power of technology and use it to our advantage. Knowing when we are dealing with technology and how to deal with it.
A world of opportunities
We are in a world full of opportunities. Often we just have to see these opportunities. For this we must be mentally awake to be open to let the opportunities find us rather than to let us hinder from possible threats.
