The most dangerous notions about education come from the people who have the most influence over the future of our youth yet have the least idea on how to guide their children, says Crystal Lim

(Photo: Unsplash/Vasily Koloda)

SINGAPORE: “By the time you graduate, everything you will have learnt will already be obsolete.” said the CFO of a major global bank to the audience of University students at a career workshop I was hosting.

“So what’s the point of school?” whispered one of the students to another, both shaking their heads in commiseration.

Welcome to the huge elephant in the room of higher education. No one quite knows what skills will be relevant for us in the future. Not the students, not even the employer and certainly not the grey-haired academics nominally in charge of preparing your daughter or son to face the age of disruption.

The most dangerous notions about education, in my opinion, come from the people who have the most influence over the future of our youth and the least idea about how to guide their children. Yes, parents, I’m looking at you.

Over the years, in my previous life as a director of a university career centre, I have heard hundreds of stories from the frontline where my team of more than 20 career coaches counselled students who were burned out, run down or plain old disillusioned with life.