The future of most work places is bound to be full of robots and automation. Because of this development, people have to be ready for what is to come. This means that change has to be effected from as early as the kind of college education that people get. People are more likely to avoid studying courses that are set to be made irrelevant thanks to the use of artificial intelligence.
Therefore, this means that there is a need for expansion of the courses that are offered in colleges and universities. Since long ago, there has been a notion that getting more and more education will increase the chances of a person getting not just a job but a well-paying one at that. And this is true, because when it comes down to it, in the competition between automation and education, education has and will always win.
The link between education and automation
In close to every kind of job, getting a good education and credentials will always keep workers one step ahead of automation. This is why colleges will always remain relevant. As for courses that will stand for a long time to come, there is no saying what could possibly happen. However, the question is, could there be accounting robots without people who actually know how to do accounting? Could there be surgical robots without actual surgeons?
So perhaps the solution is not to scrap off courses, but to change how they are taught, in order to sufficiently prepare the students for the automated workplace. Automation is inevitable, but then professions are not going to be lost simply because some robots can do most of the jobs that humans do.
Going a step further
Evidently, students will have to work just a little harder than they already do, as the stakes are higher than ever. Competing with robots is not easy, but we have to keep in mind that there is really no competition between humans and robots. If scientists decide, they might as well stop developing robots, and we might as well do away with the ones that already exist. However, that may not solve the problem of unemployment, because automation is not necessarily a bad thing.
What people actually need to do is find ways to compensate for what the robots are taking away. For instance the industrial robot arm now completes functions that were for a long time performed by humans. However, because of advancement in education, as well as technology, people have been able to find better jobs that prove to be more meaningful than stacking a bunch of boxes or labelling items.
Getting set for automation
There are endless possibilities when it comes to getting prepared for the world of automation. There are quite a number of things that are not yet taught in colleges but they should be, because they give the required skills needed for a workforce that considers robotics skills more beneficial. For instance, social media has proven to be a big source of income for quite a number of people, so why not make it a profession so that more and more people are able to benefit from the use of their phones and computers?
The biggest question that we need to ask ourselves is where do we draw the line when it comes to automation? What are the kinds of jobs that a robot will never be able to do, and what jobs do people not study for in colleges that they actually need to study? When we are able to answer those questions, we can then focus on those kinds of jobs and perfect the skills needed.
At the end of the day, we will never be able to stop automation, so the only logical thing to do is try and get ahead of it. This can efficiently be done through the advancement in not just higher education, but also in the way it is taught in colleges and universities.
