Opinion: In 2021, What Message Should Policymakers Be Sending About Education? By Katrina Long Robinson
Education in the Age of Automation We once lived in a world in which people were at the forefront of creation as builders, designers, and manufacturers. Now, options are vast and machines are able to complete many of these very functions. As amazing as technology is, it seems more and more likely that we could be headed towards a world without “work” as we know it, with machines becoming likely candidates to take on many of these human tasks. So, as we embrace a world of technology and automation, college advisors will need to adapt their message and advise differently to students as they pursue undergraduate studies and degrees. But what will they advise, exactly? In his book, A World Without Work: Technology, Automation, and How We Should Respond, Daniel Susskind discusses what K-12 teaching 86
should mean. As I read the information in the book, I realized that he never really answered his own question. However he did spark my thinking about what message I should be sending as a policymaker, board director and advocate for education. Just one year prior to educating students during a pandemic, I was asked, “What do you think is the most critical issue facing P-20 education in the state of Florida?” My answer was the following… “When looking at the P-20 workforce initiatives, we must evaluate the effectiveness of our K-12 educational system and its alignment to the workforce. This requires a diverse team of K-12, college, university, and corporate leaders to design a vertically aligned curriculum to meet
American Consortium for Equity in Education
