By ANDY ANDREWS
Los Alamos World Futures Institute

At the beginning of this series I stated that “mi esposa” asked me to offer my solution for education and its future. My immediate response was a question: “Is it for humanity or mankind?”

If it is for humanity we must include benevolence, the quality of being well intended in what one does and the quality of kindness.

Is war an activity of mankind or humanity? War is about life on earth competition. Sports are about competition. Business is about competition. But in sports and business competition the loser can continue, rebound or fade away. Where is the line in the sand (to use a trite phrase) and how do we inculcate its value into humanity? Globally we need to do a better job.

Ironically, the global view is similar to the national view, is similar to the state view, is similar to the county view, is similar to the municipal view, and is similar to the neighborhood view. They are all bubbles inside of other bubbles with differing perspectives of needs and objectives regarding the environment 18 years from now.

Assume it is July 5, 2002. That date was the eighth birthday of Amazon, which started in the Bezos’ garage. A newborn from July 5, 2002, will probably graduate from secondary school this May or June and most likely be in need of more education and/or training for a career or “professional” path.

This has been strongly influenced by the MAGA companies: Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Amazon. Over the past 18 years these companies and others have revolutionized how we live and our dependence on electronics for communication, interaction, and information distribution. If we had, as humanity, really understood the impact the technology revolution would have on the distribution of information, we might have taught the students the “need” and “how” to filter and evaluate facts from fiction. Note the words “if we had.” It is highly unlikely that in 2002 we would have been living, interacting, and perhaps viewing the future as we are in 2020. It has been a rapid evolutionary change and, I would suggest, this accelerating change is needed in our education system. But how do you do it?

First, one must include everyone involved in this process. This includes school administrators, classroom teachers, on-line teachers, class and lesson creators, students, parents, politicians, professors of education, school workers, bureaucratic organizations and even unions. I have used this list before and it seems rather broad. But I might add others such as scientists, technology evolvers, change predictors, organizations that need to be educated and on and on. We are exploring what road to take and we need to know where we are going as bubbles.

There is the bubble word again. Recognize that every bubble is different. New Mexico differs from New York, which differs from New Hampshire, which differs from Wisconsin and keep on going. Each of these bubbles have different educational requirements for their different populations (made up of individual bubbles). The educational structure at the national level should be unifying but not encumbering to the states. For example, one might want to project the needed skills distribution for the functioning of New Mexico in 2038 and adapt the educational program accordingly.

Theoretically, let us project that in 2038 the main function of New Mexico is to grow, harvest and export the world’s supply of green chile and that the demand has grown by 10,000 percent. New high school graduates must be prepared to enter the green chile workforce. Yet in our free society, once you turn 18 you can migrate to a different state bubble. So perhaps the path through the first 18 years needs to offer many divergent alternatives to career introduction at 18 or professional development beginning at 18.

Going a step further down in bubble size, consider Los Alamos County. It is not a green chile epicenter, but it is home of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Hence, one might argue that the county school system should be preparing all the students for continuing, professional scientific education at age 18. But not every individual can have the knowledge, skills, and intellect for this professional path. So what paths should be offered? With the accelerating growth of technology and its ability to mutate humanity, I can imagine the emergence of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

I also can envision a diminishing demand for reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead of reading, watch videos on your “smart” phone. Instead of writing, use the keyboard on your “smart” phone (or just use audio). Instead of arithmetic, use the calculator (even the scientific calculator?) on your “smart” phone. Imagine a world with 7.3 billion smart phones, assuming of course a stable population. Consider the energy consumption not just for use but for manufacturing and recycling. And what happens when the smart phones disappear? Maybe we better keep reading, writing and arithmetic and make schools a non-smart phone environment.

Next, we need to recognize that all emerging adults need to be prepared for a career. This suggests that in secondary school students need to be guided to a trade, career, or profession and if the road leads to a trade, the entry training needs to be accessible at the school.

This is not implying restructuring freedom of choice. Rather we need to increase the success and efficiency of the educational system while, hopefully, reducing costs. But it does mean more reliance on electronics and computers, not as replacements for the three “Rs,” but as a highway for distance learning and “programming” of the human computer. But if this is for today’s newborns, we really have only 14 years to get there.

Finally, return to the list of who needs to be involved. Their biases need to be recognized and rejected or included at every bubble level, from the world to the individual. This will require that a great deal of human energy be continuously expended to achieve unity of effort. We need to include sports and competition while including benevolence. After all, we are humanity.
One final, final observation is in order. In part three of this series the following text was highlighted:

“Theoretically, we could be evaluating the potential of every child bottle at an early stage of development and assign them to an unchosen career or labor path. Obviously the choice could be in error … They may need some help or guidance, but it has to be their own choice in the context of their environment, physical or mental.”

While this is true, we, as humanity, also incur an obligation to provide emerging adults with an array of options and the foundation for assessment and making a choice. A comprehensive, effective, and educational system is part of the benevolence integral to humanity.

Til next time….

The Los Alamos World Futures Institute website is LAWorldFutures.org. Feedback, volunteers and donations (501.c.3) are welcome. Email andy.andrews@laworldfutres.org or bob.nolen@laworldfutures.org. Previously published columns can be found at https://ladailypost.com or https:////www.laworldfutures.org.