During my primary education, I did a lot of subjects with little or no relevance to what I have become today. It never actually mattered which direction a child will eventually choose, every kid was mandated to study each subject in the academic curriculum. It wasn't a matter of choice, like we had in higher institution. Looking back there were times I wonder what those subject added up to but somehow it does. Some of the unnecessary subject played a role in assisting me in navigating through multiple passion.
No one is as confused like a kid, everything seems simultaneously possible and impossible. You want it all and yet at the moment you know nothing. From each subject studied, makes the direction a lot clearer. The most prioritised subjects were maths and English, I wish it was more than that. Probably adding other foreign languages or some other technical skill that would assist each individual in having an edge in the competitive labour market.
Gone are does days when there is a job for every course, all you have to do is graduate but times have changed. It is not as if we no longer have jobs, it is just scarce and the few ones we have around, the kind of requirement the employer seek can be overwhelming. In every job description, you would see the employer stating about 20+ responsibilities. The most funny aspect of it, is that each responsibility used to be the role of just one employee, which means the need for 20+ employees have been cutdown to just one.
The reason is not far fetched, what used to be the job of 20+ employees can now be easily performed on a computer by just one employee. So why would any employer be willing to waste their money in employing 20+ employees when they could get the same service from just one employee. Do you understand what I'm getting at? It means we now live an era that possessing just one skill is not enough, you have to know something about everything in order for you to be of value to employers, in order to have something that would give you an edge over other employees.
The labour market is now a game of value, the more value you have, the more the offers that comes your way. This is where the little things you have been taught in those irrelevant subjects would be put to good use. It would feel like a muscle memory buried in your subconscious but what would you do if you were never thought?
In these era of tech, coding, programming e.t.c how does a person remain relevant in the labour market? It doesn't really matter which course you study in this era, you have to know the basics when it comes to tech. Now we have lot of enterprises and companies making use of blockchain technology replacing old record keeping and manual ledger pattern. Which means the old way of doing things is no longer relevant.
For those born during the time of the analogue, I'm sure this new nature of doing things must feel unnatural for them. I can't really blame them because tech related things were not taught during there time. People like that are currently being disregarded due to their lack of knowledge of the present tech era. Few smart ones, invest a fortune to ensure they continue to remain relevant in their respective area of specialisation.
Should coding and programming be made compulsory for every child in school? Frankly it feels like the best way forward. It is not about learning every thing about coding but understand the basics, which a person can build on when it is needed in the future. It is better to know something about it than nothing at all. Knowing how complex coding is, it would be better if the kids were exposed to it at a very young age. looking back I wish I had the privilege of learning about tech in school just like every other subject, knowing how digital skill have becoming the most prominent criteria to become relevant in the labour market.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled Coding and tech in hive learners community.
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