Article III: Society Cannot Afford to Wait

By Shawn L. Dilly, PhD, Director General of Emirates National Schools

970 words - 3 mins read

Society Cannot Afford to Wait 

The International Labour Organization (ILO) in the past year shared alarming news that the global youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET) percentage climbed in 2020 to its highest level in 15 years (the latest numbers available), translating into 282 million people aged 15-24 qualifying as NEET. The same report said that the estimated global youth unemployment rate was 15.6% in 2021, more than three times the adult rate. Unfortunately, shortcomings in education contribute to these disturbing youth employment trends. Mounting evidence demonstrates the growing divide between school preparation and workforce demands. This gap is leaving millions of youths unable to access vital employment opportunities. The ILO further shared that young people missing these crucial early stages of personal development face severe disadvantages in the future labour market as a result.

What do schools need to do to close this growing divide? They must begin to focus on the skills and knowledge necessary to prepare students for a precarious and challenging future. In the last two articles, I discussed the future-ready competencies (FRCs) and, more specifically, the competency of resilient flexibility. Demand for these skills is high and will only continue to climb. Here, I will focus on another FRC — critical analysis. This article will be one in a series discussing the competencies necessary for the future. It is important to note that these competencies are not currently prioritised, as they are vital for young people.

So, what is critical analysis? It encompasses critical thinking, problem solving, and the utilisation of analytical skills. Skillfully conceptualising, applying, analysing, synthesising, and/or evaluating information are essential attributes of critical thinking. This information can be collected or produced from experience, observation, reasoning, communication, or reflection. Analytical skills — one’s ability to deconstruct information into categories, themes, concepts, or patterns to draw conclusions — enhance critical thinking. Analytical skills and critical thinking are both essential attributes in an excellent problem solver. Problem solving is about overcoming obstacles and challenges with efficient and effective solutions. The world is filled with multiplying challenges and problems that need many new solutions.

These three skills are crucial in working and living in the modern knowledge economy. Young people will increasingly need these competencies to discern the quality of data as a method to generate insights, create value, and drive innovation in a wide range of applications and industries. Data drives some of the fastest-growing, most innovative, and most profitable industries, such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, and machine learning. Data is used to train algorithms, reveal insights and patterns, and generate predictive models to a level not possible by human analysis alone. These advances will only continue to expand our use of data, and those with critical analysis skills will lead the way in maximising the use of our data to solve the many challenges that lie ahead.

Undoubtedly, the economic force of technological change will drive evolution in the way we engage with the world. However, critical analysis will also be an essential competency for addressing the many other forces affecting the economy. Globalisation will require crucial solutions to the changing dynamics of the global markets. Urbanisation will create many new infrastructure demands, supply chain complications, equity issues, etc., as the Earth’s population continues to migrate towards larger and larger cities. These movements and other forces will shift demographics and result in greater diversification. The shifting dynamics will promote increasing inequality and political instability, generating even more formidable challenges to be solved. On top of these difficulties, youth must address the need for greater sustainability across all sectors. The competencies associated with critical analysis are predicted to increase in value as the challenges — with the attendant need for solutions — become more abundant and frequent.

Despite the rapid growth in demand for critical analysis, we see a shortage of school leaders, schools, systems, and governments taking strong actions to prepare for this new demand. This lack of action comes with many economic, social, and personal costs for today’s youth. The financial implications are difficult to quantify fully. However, a 2012 study in the US described 6.7 million young people (16-24 years old), a group comprising those who had primarily abandoned education and work (opportunity youth) and those who had some schooling and work beyond the age of 16 (underattached youth). The authors examined the social and tax burden for these groups in 2011 US dollars, and the total equated to a burden of $6.31 trillion. Now imagine this financial burden calculated with modern inflation and expanded to encompass all 282 million NEET youth. The burden would comprise hundreds of trillions of dollars on governments worldwide. How can we afford not to take action?

Nor do these economic implications represent the total cost of youth that are unable to access viable and appropriate employment. The personal costs associated with unemployed youth cause individual and social damage that is just as substantial as the financial toll. Unemployed youth may face alienation, a feeling of uselessness, isolation, exclusion, and a loss of hope for their future. These circumstances foster mental health problems, increased crime, drug taking, conflicts, and violence. Youths that struggle to get a strong foothold early in their career face lower earnings and reduced employment stability as much as 10-15 years later. These costs may be perpetuated into future family difficulties, with these individuals trapped in a cycle of disadvantage. I ask again, how can we afford not to act?

Our best hope remains to focus on the future, and on modifying schools to close the gap between current preparation models and future in-demand competencies. Schools that can make this transition will best position their students to navigate the many challenges facing them in the future, while mitigating the economic, social, and personal costs of youth not being able to access essential employment opportunities.