Week 4 / The essential soft skills in the 21st century
How might we develop the essential soft skills required in the 21st century through informal learning?
I'm a huge believer in the power of gravity. Not the usual gravity that we talk about in our Physics classes, but the one that pulls us to the "right people" in our lives. It hasn't been long since I decided to take my interest in education more seriously and put this newsletter out to the world, but it has already brought me to many amazing people in the field. The conversations I had with different people over the past few weeks have brought clarity to the area in education I want to focus on moving forward: "How might we develop the essential soft skills required in the 21st century through informal learning?"
This is a very broad and challenging opportunity space, which makes it a perfect thesis statement for my self-made master's degree. There are a lot of big words in the statement. I'm dedicating this week's entry to unpacking them and elaborating on why a closer look at it is very crucial.
What makes the 21st century unique?
Immediate Access To Information. Automation Takeover. Global Warming Threats. Endless Opportunities. Facts Being Challenged. These are all phenomena that could arguably describe the uniqueness of the century we are living in. But what really makes the 21st century unique and challenging is the degree of uncertainty that these phenomena are bringing. As much as we want to predict and control what the future holds, nobody really knows what the world would be like in the next few decades, given this rate and diversity in the direction of changes enabled by the technological advancement. What does this degree of uncertainty mean from the education point of view? It means that soft skills development is more important than ever to navigate through a world where there will be more questions than answers and where everything is contextual. If we can't educate ourselves and the next generation to keep up with the changes, the "winner takes all" culture and inequality will be exacerbated, and exclusion will be accentuated.
Why informal learning?
We can all agree that the formal education fails to keep up with the rate at which the real world operates. It is only natural that this is the case since any structural change takes time and resources to change the way things used to work, in other words, the ways people used to think (which is, I think, the hardest thing to change as we are creatures of habit). In addition, the Internet and social media have provided us the power that previous generations didn't have — the access to information. We skip lectures to work on passion projects using the skills we learned on Youtube. We get inspired by people we meet at events we found on Eventbrite more than we do by some of our professors. For these two reasons, I believe that informal learning is vital to rethink education in the 21st century.
What are the essential soft skills?
There are five soft skills that I believe should be prioritized to prepare us and the next generation for the future full of uncertainties: self-awareness, critical thinking, systems thinking, adaptability, and empathy. Below are the definitions I've drawn and refined from experiences and literature as well as my rationales behind why I ranked them as the top five.
Self-awareness: conscious knowledge of one's intrinsic values and biases
Critical thinking: the ability to ask the "right" questions to understand who, what, why, when, how behind each piece of information
Systems thinking: the ability to identify the potential impact of one's decision on different stakeholders and in both short term and long term
Adaptability: the ability to make sense of new contexts and adjust accordingly
Empathy: the genuine curiosity about others' perspectives and feelings and the willingness to compromise when needed
My hypothesis is that with these skills, one will be able to make decisions that are grounded by one's values, are informed by one's understanding of the big picture of the context, and minimize negative consequences on oneself and others, in different situations. This is key to navigate through uncertainties in one's life and live life according to one's terms.
I will be dedicating my future entries to experiment with different informal learning techniques to develop the skills outlined above. The initial analysis and experiments will target more towards young adults (age 20-30) who look to gain clarity in their lives or those in transition periods (switching jobs and majors, starting projects, etc.). However, if you don't fall under these groups but find what I share useful, feel free to stick around and share any feedback you might have.
In addition to putting my knowledge in education into practice through this newsletter, I have been working on Alcove with my best friend, Tina He, to help people fight existential crisis through developing self-awareness. We offer a series of experiences and services that focus on hyper-intentional career development, personal growth, and daily rituals. We successfully hosted a workshop with thirty people at Cornell University in April and are bringing the experience to SF and NYC in the fall. If this is something that you think might be helpful for you or that you want to learn more about, feel free to reach out to me. We are also launching a Kickstarter campaign tomorrow. Follow along on Instagram or Twitter to stay updated.
I am also hoping to share more about how my “main work” as a Product Designer in tech shapes my perspectives and passion in informal learning. But that’s the topic of another time.
As always, all thoughts, questions, concerns, and love are welcome. If you have any resources (books, communities, etc.) regarding soft skills development and informal learning to recommend, please send them my way. My twitter dm and inbox are always open!
Thanks for making it this far!
Happy self-made,
Mind
All views are my own.