Not just Student Debt or Worse Jobs but the challenge of Learning to be Agile

As we approach the first presidential debate, I wonder if the candidates are thinking about the youth. On the heels of the general election, the future has a Millennial flavor, but how are we doing, how are students doing in how they perceive the future?

We all face our challenges, let's start with the bad before we get to the good.

Inflation Impacts the Future

Let's just be reminded for a moment, about our rising cost of education:

• A college degree costs 14 times more today than it did in 1965.

When we talk to our children about the "American Dream", in what voice can we speak the truth, honestly and compassionately?

#GenZ

We can say the economy seems to be picking up again, am I right?

• We are the only industrialized nation with a student debt as high as $1.5 trillion.

Underemployment is Real

We can say they're still good jobs out there, if you are among the best!

• Nearly half of recent college graduates, ages 22 to 27, were underemployed as of March 2016.

But then, if the economy and education doesn't matter to the future, what really matters? How can we tell them:

You will be okay, we'll be okay.

It seems we're always voting for "change", but how much can the average young American actually expect to earn $ in their first few years in the workplace?

Being Realistic without Pessimistic

So what's the most pressing issue keeping the American Dream alive? It's the first generation where our kids will have a future less bright (materialistically) than their parents, that's GenZ and younger Millennials.

With stagnant wages and rising economic wealth gaps, the idea of the American privilege itself is being called into question. This was represented well by the Millennials supported received by Bernie Sanders and his more socialist platform.

Rising costs of living means many Millennials are getting a crash course on how to live on a budget, while getting the most out of experiences.

What if hard work alone, no longer leads to Prosperity?

#EdInsights

The Need to be Agile and Acquire Skills

We know that about 50% of entry level jobs will be at risk to be automated in the next decade, so if as a society our education levels and the market demand are not in sync, we are literally preparing many of our students for failure in a world so unlike what we experienced, that their journey will be starkly different to ours.

In an ever changing global economy, there's a skills gap, but there's also a fundamental lie. The world is catching up to the American Dream, millions of Chinese are rising into the upper middle class, where the same cannot be said for many of us back home.

Never Ending Growth is a Myth

It's okay to admit, that the context of the American Dream has changed. That the future is not always a boundless sea of flourishing, that never-ending growth is a myth.

For today’s college-age students and young professionals, having a successful future is not strictly economic. It's adapting to a skill based economy, it's recognizing how to be agile in the face of automation, and how to innovate in a world literally dying to itself each day.

Loans and Debt are not Insurmountable Obstacles

Shrug off those $37,000 in loans, and recognize the future is earned on new terms. Unemployment is not defeat, being over qualified for a job is not failure, moving for a better career is not unusual.

#StudentDebt

Prepare for a Future that Scales

Indeed the GenZ cohort, will be more resilient than ever, for not only facing new challenges, but for the integration of new technology that is now being born. And if opportunities are sparse, we'll have to entrepreneur them, and if your ideal job is not within reach, you'll have to create it.

The idea of "creating your own job" will take on new meaning as the gig-economy matures and the sharing economy proliferates in the mainstream.  Meanwhile, new technological innovations will also lead to new job opportunities.

Acquire an Enthusiasm for Entrepreneurship

• 40% of the American workforce will be Freelancers by 2020 by some accounts.

Acquiring the will to learn, the ability to learn how to learn, the attitude and soft skills to excel in a world where emotional intelligence matters, is the Generation Z challenge.

Moving Forwards

Online learning that's free is becoming more popular, in 2015 the number of students doubled. Indeed leveraging these new ecosystems of information and opportunities means doubling down on learning. Learning about the world, but also about who we are and who we will be in a quickly changing global system.

Our education is not a system, it's not a dependence on institutions to "get us through", it's our commitment to learn every day! It's our ability to thrive in adversity. It's our emergence in a digitally driven workplace where tech innovation can and will impact us.

Up to half of the world’s jobs?–?around 2 billion?–?are at high risk of disappearing due to automation in the coming decades.

#BigIdeas

How to Become a Learning Native

Our students and young people must become "learning natives", not just digital or mobile natives, but radically alter their goals to adopt to a post-automation world where institutions and our role as employees may drastically shift to new standards.

• New jobs will emerge that don't exist yet now
• New opportunities will come into being, if only we are able to anticipate them
• New kinds of businesses, ideas, technologies and market demands will come into play
• We cannot simply keep up or let the world train us, we have to remain competitive.

We must face the reality that younger generations do not learn, think or behave in the same way as their predecessors. The very way in which young people learn and communicate has evolved.

#Millennials

Facing the Learning Crisis Together

In a race against time, some analysts believe by 2030, there may be a learning crisis.

• The global Population is rising
• The global Population is also aging
• Automation is coming

In a post-automation future, even living in a privileged "high-income" country won't make us immune to such a challenge to our education system. By 2020, China produces 30% of the world's college graduates and India overtakes the US in number of graduates.

One day privilege, won't be a matter of the genetic lottery or where you were born, but how you are able to handle life's opportunities given to you.

Find mentors, find employers who care about your growth, find new kinds of Universities in the digital ether, pursue lifelong education as a relentless learner (this includes all experience) and support educational policy that prepare us for the real world, the future world.

How do you see the lifecycle of skill acquisition for the real world speeding up? How can young people best prepare to navigate skill shortages, skill gaps, underemployment, and the automation of the workforce?