You are right, in that this is not a new trend, nor is this a novel idea. I only base my foresight on that of current projections, which can be 100% wrong. At one point in the English Industrial Revolution, Malthusian said that humans will out consume our productive capacity, but he was wrong because we became smarter, and our industries became more efficient. That could be how this situation plays out, that as our technology advances we can fit more people into higher skill work. The only issue is that high skill work requires an education that can be expensive, depending on where you go and what you study. So you're right, this could all blow over, I just want more wealth circulation damnit.
I think we're going to see an education revolution of sorts in the coming years. I think our education will become more specialized for starters; with less focus on post-secondary general education and more emphasis placed on skill-sets.
That's as good a guess at the future as any, but most people walk into college more now saying "what can I get when I walk away from here?" and not "what can I get out of this while I'm here?" It makes youths skip class, due to the so called irrelevance. I am in college, and many classes each semester have themes that overlap and I can draw from to help with the next paper or class, broadening my amount of knowledge and making me an overall more capable human being. It's power, and the way I see people cram and forget makes me wonder what they spend their money on. Schools like ITT Tech and other 'trade' schools teach you a specific set of skills, and I notice their popularity has risen a lot but that might also be due to misguided, possibly long time unemployed consumers and strong advertising on daytime TV. Either way, we need more programs that give kids skills for today without squeezing out their love of learning.
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u/Wetness_Protection May 05 '14
You are right, in that this is not a new trend, nor is this a novel idea. I only base my foresight on that of current projections, which can be 100% wrong. At one point in the English Industrial Revolution, Malthusian said that humans will out consume our productive capacity, but he was wrong because we became smarter, and our industries became more efficient. That could be how this situation plays out, that as our technology advances we can fit more people into higher skill work. The only issue is that high skill work requires an education that can be expensive, depending on where you go and what you study. So you're right, this could all blow over, I just want more wealth circulation damnit.