Although, there are many schools of thought on how the economic future will ultimately take shape with the rapid rise of automation and advancing technologies, one interesting theory suggests we are beginning to transition from the information age into the imagination age. This evolution can be described as a movement towards an economy where intuitive and creative thinking are the primary drivers of economic value. This concept makes a lot of sense, especially when considering the activities most immune to inevitable automation and technological advancements are those involving a complex expertise in decision-making, planning, human interaction, imagination, or creative work.
However, with this transition occurring at an ever-increasing rate the need for educational reform to prepare future generations has never been more crucial. In fact, a report by the World Economic Forum reveals that almost 65 percent of the jobs elementary school students will be doing in the future do not even exist yet. A major reason for this is that the current traditional education system is still stuck in the industrial age and has largely failed to place greater emphasis on developing skills required by students for the future economy. A future where the stress on grades and content retention shifts to promote imagination, creativity, and problem solving. This shift can only occur if students are taught to not just be passive consumers of information but rather taught to engage in multi-disciplinary thinking, where they can make cross-curricular links and solve problems from many different angles and contexts. The question we need to ask is whether our current slow adapting educational system will ever be able to make this important transition quick enough.