Gaonomics

There is nothing better than hearing your 13 years old teenage son coming home from school and excited telling you about the design and technology lesson in his school Tenby International School. He goes “you know what, the design and technology in Tenby is nothing like “his old school” — it’s like a proper workshop where we get to sketch what we want to do, work on the computer to design it and then really build it, that’s so cool, in “the old school” it was just like art, just drawing!”

I can’t tell you with accurate enough words to describe how it feels like to hear that something in school has finally captured the attention of our son so profoundly that he finds it interesting enough to tell about it at home. He has never come home, before he joined Tenby International School this term, to tell us that something in school was that engaging or useful in his mind. It’s like the light bulb that suddenly turns on with an ‘AHA’ revelation in his head, “what!! you learn something in school that you think is worth your mind’s full attention?” I can’t help but think quietly to myself, because in my mind everything can be interesting with the right attitude and approach to things.

However, I don’t think it was my son’s lack of attention previously, I just think it proves how important it is that schools understand how to capture the attention and interest of the young minds, because it’s like opening the Pandora’s Box, you never know what comes out of unexpected innovation and creativity, if the right conditions are present for these young minds. After just one lesson of Design & Technology in Tenby, my son finally realises that learning can be fun, exciting, worthwhile and very useful too and is not just something he needs to get over and done with as quickly as possible, isn’t that truly amazing?

It’s just sad that so many years have past by because of his old school’s lack of understanding of how to capture his attention and interest, but I am grateful and mindful that it’s better late than never, so now I can relax a bit knowing that things are going in the right direction, and enjoy my son’s newfound journey of discovery into the art of innovation and creativity in design and technology.

Kudos to his teacher for presenting the Design & Technology subject in such a way that it captured my son’s full attention and kudos to Tenby for bringing the subject to this level by investing in the right facilities and equipment.

It makes me think about an article I read in the NewStraitsTimes last week, “Careers: What works for Generation Y”, which says and I quote “Despite the global recession and the weakest employment outlook in decades, employers worldwide are still finding it difficult to hire young people to fill positions which require critical skills such as leadership, teamwork and problem-solving. The United Nations states that “one of the top three socio-economic issues facing the planet is the lack of talent despite population increases”, underlining the worry that talent shortage is indeed a global concern.”

I can’t help but wonder whether not the schools are responsible for educating young people to be able to fulfill these criteria, but that the concern is global just shows that the education systems everywhere are not doing a good enough job of teaching enough children the necessary skills and foster the needed talents to cope with the growing demands of the companies and workforce now and in future. Without enough qualified candidates, how are we going to meet the growing economic responsibilities of a growing population of older people, who can’t work anymore nor contribute towards the countries’ economies, which would have devastating effects in future, as countries won’t be able to afford free healthcare and education for the population. And we would see a bigger divide between rich and poor and more poverty as a result.

I am happy that Tenby understands this concern and is doing their level best to educate young people to fit the bill, as it all starts from young and the schools can’t depend on higher educational institutions to fix the shortcomings, as it would be too late, as is shown from the lack of suitable candidates the article writes about.