Education for Future Leadership: What and Why?

I recently came across an article that really got me thinking. It asked a question similar to what parents in the 15th century might have asked their sons returning home from university:

1. What did you learn? The answer was supposed to be sound thinking in the form of the prevailing epistemology of the time.

2. Why did you learn? The acceptable answer would have been to serve as a thought leader within society.

In this century, are we educating our youth to be critical thinkers capable of discerning between conspiracy theories, false information, and deepfakes? Are we teaching them the importance of learning from history and avoiding past mistakes? Are we preparing them to be future leaders, capable of addressing the complex challenges we are leaving behind? Are we nurturing ethical thinking and actions in our future leaders? As a society, we need an education system that intentionally fosters critical analysis, leadership, and the skills necessary for positive social change for the benefit of our young people's future (Barnett, 2012; Mezirow, 2000).

Reference:

Barnett, R. (2012). Learning for an unknown future. Higher Education Research & Development, 31(1), 65-77.

Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning to think like an adult: Core concepts of transformation theory. In J. Mezirow & Associates (Eds.), Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress (pp. 3-33). Jossey-Bass.

During the writing process, Grammarly AI helped me improve my writing.