There’s an ISTE article with a knock you off your feet kind of title. It comes paired with an equivocal punch from the content of the article as well. The article “Preparing students for jobs that don’t exist” carries such a powerful message that this is actually the second time I’m writing about it.
If you’re interested in my thoughts on the article, check my writing here.
This essay is going to be more focused on addressing a question it poses in a statistic. The author, Nicole Krueger, states, “65% of children entering grade school today will end up working in jobs that don’t even exist yet…”
This data point has been lingering in the back of my head since I’ve read it. It made me think, “How many new jobs have come into existence since I’ve been a student?” Undoubtedly technology has increased the number of jobs that exist.
I started first grade in (get ready for it…) 2003. So, I’ve set out to see what kind of change has come since then. After some investigation, I’ve pulled together a few sources to curate a list.
List of jobs that didn’t exist: Credit to Glassdoor:
- Social Media Manager
- Data Scientist
- Podcast Producer
- Mobile App Developer
- Lyft Driver
- Anything to do with Artificial Intelligence
- Employment Brand Manager
- Cloud Architect
- SEO Analyst
- Developer Evangelist
- Content Moderator
- Virtual Assistant
- Telemedicine Physician
- Anything in the field of Automated Driving
- Content Marketer
Another set of jobs that didn’t exist, according to Ellen Bowers of Nasstar.com
- Uber Driver
- Social Media Manager
- Air BnB host
- Cloud Service Specialist
- YouTube Content Creators
- App Developers
- Driverless Car Engineer
- Drone Operator
- Millennial Generational Expert
- Drone Operator
The So What:
Krueger suggests the idea of breaking out of the content silo that we traditionally live in as teachers. What a liberating feeling. I’ve always felt so conflicted about the different subject certifications. I would go as far as to argue that I think the certification system is far from efficient or effective at leading individuals to be good teachers.
I have three different subject certifications. I’m qualified to teach English, Science, and Social Studies from grades 7-12. I’m certified in these topics because they all interest me. Each subject sparks an interest for me. I enjoy bringing each subject into my classroom, even if my official title is “English Teacher.”
Blending the content areas and teaching at the “intersections” will better the students and their experiences. We should move away from this idea of “favorite subjects” and move forward with the notion of “how can we combine subjects to solve the problems of the world?”
If you’ve made it this far, do me a favor and reach out to me on Twitter to connect and let me know what you think.
Interested in reading more? Here are my last three bits of writing.