essay on today's child tomorrow's future

Subscribe to our mailing list

Powered by Robly ™

Songs for Teaching® Using Music to Promote Learning 5501 W. Ross Dr. Chandler, AZ 85226 800-649-5514 (480-689-1190)

© 2002-2011 Songs for Teaching®   All rights reserved.

EdSurge Podcast

What do today’s kids need for tomorrow’s world more than tech and academics, by jeffrey r. young     mar 30, 2021.

This article is part of the guide: The EdSurge Podcast.

So what do today’s students—whether they’re in K-12 or in college—need to know to be prepared for the world they’ll graduate into?

That question has only become more complicated during the uncertainty of a pandemic.

And it’s the topic of a new book by Stephanie Krauss, called “Making It: What Today’s Kids Need for Tomorrow’s World.”

Krauss brings a unique mix of perspectives to the topic. She started her career as a fifth grade teacher in Phoenix. She later founded a college-prep charter high school in St. Louis, and was president of an educational foundation working for disengaged nontraditional students. And today she’s a senior advisor to Jobs for the Future and a staff consultant for the Youth Transition Funders Group.

Her book doesn’t dive into what academic curriculum is better, or whether or not kids need to learn to code. Instead, the author takes a step back to outline four cultural “currencies”—“community, competencies, connections and credentials”—that she says people need to learn for their future jobs and just to live happy lives.

EdSurge connected with Krauss to ask her about her framework, and how it was shaped by her own educational journey.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts , Overcast , Spotify , Stitcher , Google Play Music , or wherever you listen to podcasts, or use the player below.

EdSurge: You talk a lot in your book about the currencies and competencies that kids need, but not so much about academics. What is the goal of your framework?

Krauss: I’ve had the opportunity in the last eight years to be really deeply involved in competency-based education, in the K-12 space and in higher ed. The competencies tackled in “Making It” are a little different than you might see in the competencies that we come up with when we’re thinking about curriculum, because they’re not tied to predetermined academic standards. Instead, it was actually stepping back and saying content knowledge aside, what are the things that young people must be able to do in order to navigate learning and work and adult life as they move forward?

They’re things like the ability to focus and organize, or to think critically and creatively. But they’re also things like personal health, including cognitive health—our ability to unplug and plug into technology at will. For instance, if I’m on Zoom for more than three hours, I get a migraine.

One of the things I was trying to really push for in “Making It” is that we have our body systems that we put into play without even realizing it, but we know when something is wrong. So I know there’s a relationship between how I’m breathing and my heart, and I’m more aware of it when I go for a run or for some reason my heart is racing and I’m holding my breath and notice that connection. That’s our way of functioning in the world. These competencies are our ways of being in the world and they are as interdependent as your heart and your lungs or your heartbeat and your breath.

And so what I wanted to call out for folks [is the importance of] not relegating it to this [holistic approach] to just lessons in SEL (social-emotional learning), or to competency based education, or this lives in health and wellness classes. Instead I want to say, we have these ways of being that are super interdependent, that we can actually learn and develop and strengthen. And we have to, as parents, as educators with young people, but as adults, we also have to tend to these.

What’s a specific example of this?

So let’s stick with the ability to focus and organize since I used it earlier. I connected with an old friend, Cal Newport, who has written a lot about “deep work” and our digital lives. It’s even harder to focus and pay attention because we have information coming at us and the demands are everywhere. And the part of the brain responsible for that, the front of the brain,doesn’t develop until your mid-twenties. So kids need help. They actually need bumpers for the bowling alley of life to help them. They need some hacks.

We can understand young people are going to struggle with the ability to focus and stay organized, particularly if they’re differently wired—if they have ADHD or anxiety. And some of the strategies are things like playing board games or watching a movie from start to finish. Think about young kids today and the number of video clips or tech talks that they listen to—that actually rewires the brain and the ability to pay attention for a prolonged period of time, which is so critical. They actually have to practice by watching a movie. In our house, my son likes baseball and we got him a transistor radio. So he doesn’t have the visual of it. And he listens to the baseball game from start to finish.

Technology was not designed to support [kids’] growth and development. It was designed for people to keep using it.

You wrote much of this book before the pandemic. Is there any advice in there you’d alter now in light of the current moment?

I have a chapter dedicated to cash, which has implications for educators. We don’t talk about the relationship between how much cash and financial stability a student has and how well they can do in school and our responsibility in that as an education community. [We need to] do much better in everything from completely overhauling and changing how we do financial aid to reflect real life, to direct cash assistance to students who need it and families—in K-12 and higher ed.

When the pandemic happened, suddenly everyone was primed to think more about cash because the struggle was real. And they were seeing the connection between how whoever the adults were in the household, their economic reality, and how that played out into the learning experience of the students in the home, or if there were multiple generations of students and workers, what that looked like.

For me the question is not what I’d do differently, it’s what’s next. I’m thinking really strongly about what is the book for young people themselves on what actually is the picture of college and career and life after high school? And what do you need to know that you may not be getting from an advisor or counselor, or yet that your parents aren’t aware is something to think about everything from an 80 year career to what would it look like if you had a colleague that was AI or robot to, what do you do during periods when you’re poor? So the same kinds of ideas, but not just for adults—for the young people.

Hear the entire interview on this week’s EdSurge Podcast .

Jeffrey R. Young ( @jryoung ) is producer and host of the EdSurge Podcast and the managing editor of EdSurge. He can be reached at jeff [at] edsurge [dot] com.

Music this episode by Blue Dot Sessions. The track is Lo Margin .

The EdSurge Podcast

Worried About Student Mental Health, a College President Moved Into the Dorms

By jeffrey r. young.

Why Is Teaching So Prone to Fads?

There Is No ‘Average Student.’ So How Should Educators Measure Learning?

How Shakespeare Helps Us Rethink Education

By rebecca koenig, more from edsurge.

Artificial Intelligence

Ai guidelines for k-12 aim to bring order to the ‘wild west’, by nadia tamez-robledo.

Is It Time for a National Conversation About Eliminating Letter Grades?

How AI Can Address Critical Challenges Facing Higher Education

By abbie misha.

Education Workforce

Teacher layoffs are coming as pandemic relief money for schools dries up.

Journalism that ignites your curiosity about education.

EdSurge is an editorially independent project of and

• Product Index
• Write for us
• Advertising

FOLLOW EDSURGE

© 2024 All Rights Reserved

• Arts & Culture
• Civic Engagement
• Economic Development
• Environment
• Human Rights
• Social Services
• Water & Sanitation
• Foundations
• Nonprofits & NGOs
• Social Enterprise
• Collaboration
• Design Thinking
• Impact Investing
• Measurement & Evaluation
• Organizational Development
• Philanthropy & Funding
• Current Issue
• Sponsored Supplements
• Global Editions
• In-Depth Series
• Stanford PACS
• Submission Guidelines

Preparing Today’s Youth for Tomorrow’s World

In a world of rapid change, young people need the right mix of skills to thrive. Access to information is increasing, and memorizing facts is less important today than in the past. Although academic skills remain important, they are not sufficient to foster thoughtful, productive, and engaged citizens. Young people everywhere need to develop a greater breadth of skills to evaluate and apply knowledge in ways that meet the new demands of our changing social and economic landscape.

Skills like communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and flexibility have always been important for work and life. But they will be even more crucial for future generations. Rapid advances in technology are transforming the world of work, and by 2020 an estimated 83 million jobs around the globe will go unfilled due to lack of skills. We are also more connected than ever before, and complex global challenges such as climate change and health epidemics call for leaders and citizens who are able to collaborate with diverse groups to solve problems.

This series, produced in partnership with the Center for Universal Education at Brookings , aims to spark a global dialogue and promote increased understanding of how to develop the skills and learning that all children need for success in their lives and livelihoods. 

Why Matchmaking in Youth Employment Programs in Middle East North Africa Aren’t Working

By Mayyada Abu Jaber 3

Insights from 10 years working on youth employment program matchmaking.

More Girls in STEM Means Improving STEM Teacher Training

By Adefunke Ekine 2

Providing teachers with gender sensitivity training is a first step toward addressing gender inequality in STEM. But it’s not the last.

Keeping Children in School During Natural Crises

By Ellen Chigwanda 3

In the context of a changing climate, how can we ensure that schoolchildren who live in rural areas are consistently able to attend school?

Ten Trends in Girls’ Education

By Christina Kwauk, Amanda Braga, & Nora Fyles 2

To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals related to inclusive education and gender equality, we need to examine how girls’ education has changed since 2015.

Developing Breadth of Learning

By Seamus Hegarty 1

Students need broader learning opportunities in school to help prepare them for the uncertainties of the future.

It’s Time to Mobilize Around a New Approach to Educational Assessment

By Alvin Vista and Esther Care

How can we engage vested interests in a move toward the kinds of assessments we increasingly need to measure a breadth of skills, when maintaining the status quo is easier (and profitable)?

Education is Changing. It’s Time Assessment Caught Up

By Esther Care & Alvin Vista 36

To prepare students for the job markets that will await them, let’s focus on the skills, not the scores.

Intervene Early, Intervene Well

By Emily Gustafsson-Wright & Sophie Gardiner 1

Impact bonds supporting early childhood development can bridge capital gaps, improve the quality of services, and establish effective data-sharing systems.

Learning Progressions: Road Maps for 21st-Century Students—and Teachers

By Helyn Kim & Claire Scoular 9

To equip today’s students for the future, we need to understand the fundamental building blocks of complex skills, and apply that understanding to teaching practices and assessments.

Redefining Teacher Development to Great Effect in Honduras

By Becca Shareff & Erin Murphy-Graham

A different approach to developing teachers helps rural students access secondary education, and also has an immediate and positive impact on their communities.

When Schooling Doesn’t Mean Learning

By Rukmini Banerji 9

In India, a simple, citizen-led assessment is helping citizens gauge children’s learning levels—and challenging a deep-seated belief that going to school means getting an education.

The ‘Secret Sauce’ to Scaling Up Quality Education in Developing Countries

By Julia Gillard & Jenny Perlman Robinson

There is no rigid recipe for scaling quality learning, but successful efforts require attention to design and delivery, stable access to finance, and an enabling policy environment.

Systems Change in Education: It Begins With Us

By Valentina Raman & Ross Hall 3

To make education systems more adaptive, innovative, collaborative, and empathic, we as change leaders must first model these characteristics ourselves.

The Messy Middle: Managing the Challenges of Scale-up

By Becky Telford & Kate Radford

Five lessons on scaling educational technology for the most vulnerable children.

Press Button to Complete School

By Greg Toppo 1

Like games, classes aren’t interesting when the skills they require are too easy to master and there’s no chance of failure.

Using Technology to Teach the Art of Asking Questions

By Eileen McGivney & Paul Kim 3

Technological innovations have the potential to transform education, but only if they encourage a more active learning environment that fosters critical thinking.

How Can We “Leapfrog” Educational Outcomes?

By Rebecca Winthrop 2

Innovations will need to address inequity and embrace a broader range of skills than most schools currently teach.

Why Walking Is So Good for Parents, Toddlers, and the Cities Where They Live

By Michael Feigelson 4

How can making a city more walkable improve early childhood development?

Poor Kids Learn Like Rich Kids and All the Kids in Between

By Kathy Hirsh-Pasek & Roberta Michnick Golinkoff 4

In an era when low-income children are offered different learning opportunities than rich children, we must work to provide all kids the high-quality educational experience that the 21st century demands.

Transforming Cities into Learning Landscapes

By Kathy Hirsh-Pasek & Roberta Michnick Golinkoff 1

Cities can create outside-the-classroom learning opportunities for low-income children by encouraging communities to reimage everyday locations in their neighborhoods as places for playful learning.

Rethinking Education in a Changing World

By Rebecca Winthrop & Eileen McGivney 10

How can we ensure all children across the globe learn the skills they need to be successful in an increasingly interconnected, technologically advanced world?

RELATED CONTENT FROM SSIR

• Redefining Education in the Developing World
• Forging a New Deal in Education
• Schools Aren’t Just Buildings
• The Missing Link in Girls’ Education

SSIR.org and/or its third-party tools use cookies, which are necessary to its functioning and to our better understanding of user needs. By closing this banner, scrolling this page, clicking a link or continuing to otherwise browse this site, you agree to the use of cookies.

'Today's children become tomorrow's citizens'

A nation rests on its citizens. The destiny of the nation is shaped entirely by the citizens. It is imperative that they are healthy, wealthy and wise. It is today’s children who will be tomorrow’s citizens and this makes it imperative that we accord the highest priority to their mental and moral well-being. Not everything is inborn in an individual. Personality is something which is patiently and meticulously shaped over a period of time.

Not every individual is perfect in every respect. Even if there are some who can be called perfect, they are few and far between. There is nothing like an end to the acquisition of knowledge; it is an endless exercise. It is only when one keeps an open mind that one can absorb and assimilate more knowledge and can realize that knowledge is insatiable. Age has never been, and will never be, a bar to this eternal process of inner development.

But to gain knowledge, and more and more of it, one should spread one’s enthusiasm wide and thick. One should constantly see visions of newer and newer discoveries. One’s mind should not be a cesspool of distraction and negative thoughts. It should, on the other hand, be like a placid, untarnished pool. But, this doesn’t always happen, since we often tend to ignore this basic truth and let our minds wander without any aim.

That is why, we need a new awakening to place our wayward minds on an even keel. Awareness (personality development) camps are meant essentially to kindle such awakenings in individuals and expand their vistas of knowledge and understanding. It is only those who regard life as a sport who keep the windows of their minds open to fresh thoughts and experiences.

To them success or failure hardly makes any difference, since these are an integral part of our very existence. They instinctively learn to absorb both success and failure with equanimity. No matter where and how success or failure comes from, a sportsperson is ever equipped to receive it, accept it and analyze it without any emotion or self pity and then absorbs that experience innermost in this psyche.

But to reach such a state of maturity and mental toughness, one should persuade oneself to be determined and unperturbed by the impact of even the worst of experiences. One should imbibe the qualities of self-abnegation and humanity. The more young ones learn, the better it is for the society as a whole, because the stream of culture expands into an ocean and dedicates itself to the progress and well being of the whole community.

It is in this spirit that awareness camps are designed and conducted regularly. It is in these camps that the more evolved minds, who have the benefit of their deep knowledge and vision, expose the younger minds to the challenges and pressures ahead of them and inculcate in them the shining qualities of learning, scholarship and leadership.

In fact, powerful individuals, organizations and religious institutions owe it to themselves to prepare the youngsters of today to be the torch bearers of a bright, meaningful and ethical tomorrow.

The camps have conclusively proved their relevance and usefulness to society by shaping fully rounded personalities who are ever ready to help others to build a value based tomorrow. An adage says that a daughter always takes after her mother. We have believed that it is the sacred duty of every religious institution to inculcate in the uninitiated the most splendorous values of life and shape them into sentinels of our highest morals and traditions.

We are satisfied that these camps have made thousands of children the ambassadors of culture and high-breeding and they have successfully led them on to the path of self-realization.

Exalted thinking arises out of exalted education and motivation. And our culture goes on getting more refined in this process. It is imperative that this culture pervades every walk of life, be it spiritual or material. It is also essential that our democracy is built on the strong and impregnable foundation of these tenets.

Dharma is nothing but a rigorous application of such culture to all our thoughts and deeds. It is this dharma which should stand as a bulwark of the future of our nation, and serve as an eternal guide to its all-round growth and development. Today we need intellect among youth. Alongside, we also have to ponder on how to be cultured and how to enrich our lives. We have to imbibe good things to attain cherished goals.

This article is an ‘Ashirvachana’ given by His Holiness Sri Balagangadaranatha Mahaswamiji, 71st Pontiff of Sri Adichunchanagiri Mahas stana Math

Follow The New Indian Express channel on WhatsApp  

Download the TNIE app to stay with us and follow the latest

Related Stories