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posted by mrpg on Thursday December 14 2017, @11:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the robot-scare-fad dept.

Weep for the future?

Today's 6th graders will hit their prime working years in 2030.

By that time, the "robot apocalypse" could be fully upon us. Automation and artificial intelligence could have eliminated half the jobs in the United States economy.

Or, plenty of jobs could still exist, but today's students could be locked in a fierce competition for a few richly rewarded positions requiring advanced technical and interpersonal skills. Robots and algorithms would take care of what used to be solid working- and middle-class jobs. And the kids who didn't get that cutting-edge computer science course or life-changing middle school project? They'd be relegated to a series of dead-end positions, serving the elites who did.

Alternatively, maybe Bill Gates and Elon Musk and the other big names ringing the alarm are wrong. A decade from now, perhaps companies will still complain they can't find employees who can read an instruction manual and pass a drug test. Maybe workers will still be able to hold on to the American Dream, so long as they can adjust to incremental technological shifts in the workplace.

Which vision will prove correct?

30 years into the Information Revolution and schools are only just now realizing they should teach kids how to code...


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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @01:52AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @01:52AM (#610039)

    Tell me again why everyone needs a college degree to do paperwork and the most routine of office duties?

    Nor do you need a college degree to learn mathematics or computer science at a very high level. This is the 21st century, where people have access to massive amounts of high quality information that they could use to educate themselves, yet our view of education comes from the metaphorical dark ages. Employers require degrees even when it's not necessary just so they can filter out candidates more easily and avoid doing any actual work, which is the same reason why they utilize ridiculous personality tests ('I fear you're too introverted to be a team player, Bob.'). Then they turn around and complain about a lack of talent. You end up with losers who have a myriad of degrees and yet can't even write a simple fizzbuzz program.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @06:36AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 15 2017, @06:36AM (#610156)

    Just gonna point out that access to that information doesn't make learning it easy. Learning modalities matter. Some people learn MUCH better with a teacher, or doing problems, or so on - generally (geeeenerally) the more active, the better.

    But yeah degree inflation and pumping out incompetent bachelors for CS and engineering indicate MAJOR problems coming down the line. The engineering fresh grads really, really scare me.