There has been a lot of talk recently about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to take away jobs from people. I think as educators there are two things that we need to keep in mind. The first is that we are educating children for jobs that don’t even exist yet. And second, that most jobs that will remain, perhaps in a different form, but they will be there.
I used the photo above that shows a refueling platform approaching a cruise ship. When I took this photo, I started thinking about the people who worked on the platform, and how their jobs have changed over the years. My mother worked on cruise ships beginning in the 1980’s. Her descriptions of the jobs involved in running a cruise ship, and what jobs are present today, are very different. But the ships are still fully crewed, in many cases with much larger crews and support than years ago. The ships are larger and more technologically advanced. There are also people all around the US and the world who have jobs supporting passengers, many who work from their homes. And the workers on the refueling platform were certainly still needed, although as I watched them refuel a ship, they were using technology that I am certain did not exist when my mother worked on ships.
Using authentic projects to teach gives teachers and students the flexibility to explore, in depth, what interests them. It also teaches students (and teachers) to think outside the box. Using authentic projects expands student and teacher flexibility, creativity, engagement, and ownership of learning. These are all skills that students (and teachers) will need in the future with current careers evolving and new careers being introduced due to AI.
I am old enough to remember when television was new and all of the concerns people had. I was also teaching before we had computers and the internet. While AI is a huge leap forward, it is not the first leap that teachers and students have had to make.
As I mentioned before, we are educating children for jobs that don’t exist yet. Jobs that we can’t possibly imagine. I have been watching videos on the internet about future cruise ships. I am totally blown away by these floating cities. What an amazing career that would be to work on one of these future ships! Jobs that we can’t possibly imagine!
