Future Thinking

In a time of rapid change, the Headmaster of St Benedict’s outlines how young people can thrive, at school and in the future

It’s sometimes said that education is what is left when you have forgotten what you were taught. That the core value of education is not so much the acquisition of knowledge as the ability to think. At every stage, education should encourage us to reason, to be curious, to be sceptical and to ask questions.

We need to teach our students how to distinguish between what is true and what is fake, and to think for themselves when evaluating complex issues such as war, euthanasia and nuclear arms. Philosophy has a vital place in this information age, with Socrates and Aristotle teaching us to think logically and make reasoned arguments in the face of oversimplification, obfuscation, and downright lies. As do good research skills, using libraries – digital and paper – in the most effective way.

The future of work is arguably more uncertain now than it has ever been, with the exponential rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Our children will be employed in jobs that don’t yet exist, and they may well have more leisure time at their disposal, which raises the question of how they’ll spend it. Schools therefore need to equip young people not only to find the kind of employment that best suits their talents, but also to understand that learning can be life-long and fulfilling, not just a means to an end.

In the many careers talks given by alumni and other outside speakers at St Benedict’s the same powerful message invariably comes through: future success often defies a plan, requires tenacity, and depends upon an individual’s growth mindset: not on initially being the ‘best’, but on constantly learning, developing and being a person that people want to work with. To return to the quote: it’s not what you know, it’s how resilient, adaptable and creative you are.

As technology occupies an ever-increasing part of our lives, it is the human qualities that will matter more: imagination, empathy, reliability, compassion, perseverance – these are the qualities that will hopefully remain when students have forgotten what they’ve learned for their exams.

So it is vital that, as well as following an academic curriculum, we help children to develop these human qualities in the first place. The role of co-curricular activities is crucial, not subsidiary, in helping pupils to be resilient. It takes self-discipline and independence to practise a musical instrument, or to learn the lines of a play. In sport, when you’re 4-0 down with 10 minutes to go, it takes gritty determination to keep going to the end; and if you can encourage your team-mates along the way, so much the better.

Good study skills and the acquisition of knowledge certainly have their place, but they are really only the beginning. It is determination which will see them through in the face of adversity and uncertainty. Stellar exam results alone are really only just the beginning. We also need to develop to the full all that makes us human and unique.

Learning can be life-long and fulfilling, not just a means to an end.