How Education Should Prepare Students For The Future Of Work

Gen Z students need creativity and collaboration skills, and schools are letting them down

For decades, the American educational system has lined up students in regimented rows of desks, while teachers lectured for hours on end. In a society fixated on industrialism, the goal was to create workers who were well-rounded and could follow directions, and the structure of the school system naturally mirrored this.

 

But the workplace is changing — and many schools aren’t keeping up. As artificial intelligence (AI) and automation transform workplaces, companies have a higher demand for problem-solving skills and collaboration over technical hard skills. Yet the educational establishment is doubling down on standardized testing and rote memorization, creating a mismatch between what workplaces need and what schools are preparing Gen Z students to deliver. 
 
If the core purpose of schooling is to prepare students for the careers of the future, schools must adapt the classroom to better reflect the needs of the modern workplace. If they don’t, they risk widening a gap that will hurt students and companies alike.

The office of the future will emphasize very different job functions from the ones that exist today. 

For starters, software programs that cut down on repetitive tasks and busywork are becoming widely available, helping with everything from scanning resumes for a recruiter to identifying data patterns in medical records for doctors. Workers are increasingly free to focus on the interpersonal and decision-making aspects of their jobs without having to spend hours sifting through data and analysis.
 
Technology is also making workplaces more fluid — so fluid that many wonder whether there will be traditional workspaces in the not-too-distant future. But that’s just the beginning. How would the ability for people to work anywhere, anytime through a live virtual reality (VR) system change what it means to work for a company? Or what if I could work with someone in Japan who speaks only Japanese, taking advantage of real-time translation to collaborate across borders? 
 
These hypothetical situations may seem far off, but the ability to work remotely is already dissolving physical workplaces, in a sense, with people working from home, from airports, from coffee shops, at any time of day or night. The implications are only beginning to unfold, but it’s clear that a revolution is underway, and that today’s students will experience a radical transformation in how and where work is done during their lifetimes. 

Schools need to prepare Gen Z students for a world that doesn’t yet exist, and memorizing names and dates isn’t going to cut it. They need skills in problem solving, collaboration, and decision making. They need to learn how to think.
 
While many educators see the problem and are trying to make classrooms more collaborative, they face an uphill battle against policies that have enshrined standardized tests. Applying to college and getting accepted to a prestigious university has become a competitive sport, making parents, students, and counselors hesitant to take risks that might hurt a student’s test scores or other chances. 
 
This competition and the resulting obsession with teaching kids to be expert test-takers is resulting in anxiety, depression, and burnout at younger ages. But the larger problem is that we’ve forgotten what school is really for — we’ve gotten caught up in “what” students learn rather than “how” they learn. 
 
As technology replaces much of the need for technical skills, what Gen Z students really need is the ability to adapt and to think in new ways — to create big ideas and projects that they can then use technology like AI to implement.

Creativity, collaboration, and entrepreneurial spirit are key skills of the future, and it’s never too early to nurture them. Elementary-aged kids are at their most creative and passionate about their interests, yet in America, we’re killing that creativity by imposing structured learning at earlier ages. 
 
We could learn a lot from Finland, which is known for its remarkable educational outcomes — as well as for having more recess and less homework. The idea isn’t just that kids should be kids. It’s that free play is a really great way for kids to foster their creativity and discover things they’re interested in. Something as simple as playing with a doll may seem childish, but it’s part of creating worlds, exercising the imagination, and letting the mind wander — a big part of nurturing creativity.
 
The Finnish system also believes no child should be forced to repeat a grade in school. Instead of labeling certain kids as “failures,” we need an approach that instills confidence in students and helps them understand their individual strengths and weaknesses, making them into better future collaborators. Technology is making it possible to do this by personalizing education, allowing teachers to track each student’s progress in different areas, pinpoint strengths and weaknesses, and tailor learning experiences.
 
Other solutions are deceptively simple but powerful. For example, instead of rows of desks, a classroom could be arranged in the shape of a horseshoe or a fishbowl for discussion, creating the opportunity for Socratic seminars where students bounce ideas off each other and learn to respond and interact.
 
Schools are uniquely positioned to help Gen Z students identify and hone skills in areas they’re passionate about — to curate rather than curtail their creativity. If the educational system can evolve to make passion, problem-solving, and teamwork part of the core curriculum, it will finally be preparing Gen Z students for the innovative workplaces of the future.