I was part of a panel on the topic of education at the high school level. I am not necessarily the most knowledgable on the topic, but I do have some opinions, I put links to my previous articles on the topic at the bottom of this post. The three questions we will be discussing during the panel and my long format answers are as follows:
What trends or changes are you seeing in the Arts/Entertainment/Communication Industry that we should be preparing student for at the High School Level?
- All of the jobs that could be automated are either done by machines or are soon to head that way. As the old jobs that are more prescriptive jobs disappear they are being replaced with more descriptive jobs. When I was in school I was told that my first several years in a design job would be production level work that was mostly executing other peoples vision. When I got into real life, I realized tools and automation have removed all of the production level work. The new expectation is that on your first day on the job you need to be able to 1) use tools needed to build something, and 2) have the creativity and problem solving ability to solve high level problems, and handle any things that happens in the process.
What are the most important qualities that you feel are needed in young professionals in the field?
Ability to learn on the fly,
Accepting imperfection of small items to accomplish larger goals
Learning to create solutions for your employer, not problems.
What Did you wish you learned about in High school that would have helped you the most in your career?
- I feel this is the wrong question. The question to ask is \“what do you wish you would have DONE?\” or \“What do you wish you had to SHOW from high school?\” Because when I was in school I learned everything I \“NEEDED\” but it wasn\‘t really anything that set me apart. I had a set of work and grades that showed that I had the ability to consume and follow directions, but it was very similar to my peers. What I needed to show future educators, or employers was something I built, wrote, made, designed.
Three of my previous related posts that come to mind are:
[How to advance your career as a web designer]
[Breaking into web design/dev world by volunteering]
[Getting your first job in the tech world]