One More Thing #16

On 21st Century Jobs

Our senior year of high school, I spent a lot of time with a group of guys.  They were all bright & creative (weird, too, obviously), but in different ways. Somewhere there’s a picture (printed at CVS, of course) of a pile of our shoes- combat boots, sneakers, boat shoes, & my clogs. We were a quirky crew, & we’d often spend time talking about starting a multimedia company.  Then, naturally, we’d take over the world. Together, we had skills in writing, music, tech, math… we did have the makings of a 21st century powerhouse company.

As I think about what the world will be like for my children, I’m pretty sure they’ll need to wear all of those shoes. There are very few jobs left that I refer to as “Mr Rogers’ Neighborhood jobs”-- jobs that require a small, defined skill set- the kinds of jobs that children can wrap their heads around. I used to say that teaching was a “Mr Rogers” job, but yesterday I had to troubleshoot multiple online accounts to get access to the film I needed for class. I thought of my dad, who was a teacher for years, & how if he had been in my shoes his lesson would have died a slow, painful death.

According to my contract, I’m an English teacher, which requires skills with the English language and the ability to work well with children. Now, it also requires knowledge of hardware, software, the internet, the mathematical mind to understand A LOT of data… the list goes on. My husband is an electrician, but his professional development this weekend was all online. It’s getting harder and harder to just stay in your lane, to reach adulthood, say, “This is what I’m good at & enjoy” & go do that thing.

In some respects, it’s liberating- there’s always some new adventure around the corner. In other respects, it’s a little terrifying. The good news is, this new generation can probably navigate the newest tech faster than we can order our groceries online. I think the kids will be ok.