People whose job is to advise governments and large
corporations on what the future holds, paint a very startling
picture of what the work a day world will be like in the year
2025. As we quickly move to a post-industrial world we will
find that skilled persons with strong academic qualifications,
including diplomas and degrees, are going to be in constant
demand. These people will command the high salaries and the
lifestyles that go with them. The unskilled will have quite
limited opportunities and, unless they possess entrepreneurial
abilities, will find life a constant struggle from a financial
point of view. They will be subject to chronic unemployment
during periods of recession.
Rapid
technological change will cause entire categories of work to
disappear and complete new fields of endeavour to spring up.
Futurists predict that even university graduates will undergo
three to five total career changes which will require them to
return to school for retraining.
The
nature of employment will change. Companies will have far
fewer permanent employees and most work will be done on fixed
term contracts. It is estimated that the graduates of
2025 will hold in excess of 70 different positions during
their working lifetimes.
The
person who will be successful in this environment will be the
independent thinker with broad general knowledge and problem
solving skills, who can adapt quickly to change.
Fortunately,
research scientists now know how to create the independent
thinker. We have learned more in the last five years about the
early development of the brain than we knew from the dawn of
civilization to the year 1993.
We
now know that windows of opportunity occur very early in life.
If positive stimulation is given while these windows are open
we can create a child who is keen and eager to learn, develops
superb reading skills, understands basic math and has a good
comprehension of the fundamentals of the sciences. Incredibly
this can be accomplished with 5 to 10 minutes a day of
“Special Playtime”. The child builds an understanding of
the world he or she lives in, and most important, develops an
insatiable curiosity that will endure a lifetime.
We
now know that the human brain reaches its greatest capacity by
the age of six. Never again in life will it be as great as it
is at that age.
It
is obvious then, if we are to help our children achieve their
maximum potential, early stimulation is essential.
Neurobiologists now believe that this can begin as early as
the start of the third trimester of pregnancy!! In any event,
the process should be completed by the child’s sixth
birthday.
