Tag Archives: careers

In the middle

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I think that a robust and healthy middle class is essential to maintain a vibrant society. But what I see in the world is an increasing gap between the wealthy and an ever larger group of people living in debt and/or from paycheque to paycheque. The (not so) middle class now might still go on a family vacation, and spend money on restaurants, but they are not saving money for the future… they simply can’t do what the middle class of the past did.

A mortgage isn’t to be paid off, it’s something to continue to manage during retirement. Downsizing isn’t a choice to be made, it’s a survival necessity. Working part time during retirement isn’t a way to keep busy, it’s s necessity to make ends meet.

I grew up in a world where I believed I would do better than my parents did. Kids today doubt they will ever own a place like their parents, and many don’t believe they’ll ever own a house. Renting and perhaps owning a small condo one day are all they aspire to. Not because they don’t want more, but because more seems too costly and out of reach.

Then I see the world of AI and robotics we are heading into and I wonder if initially things won’t get worse before they get better? Why hire a dozen programmers, just hire two exceptional ones and they are the quality control for AI agents write most of your code. Why hire a team of writers when one talented writer can edit the writing done by AI? Why hire factory workers that need lunch breaks and are more susceptible to making errors than a team of robots? While some jobs are likely to stick around for a while like trades, childcare, and people in certain medical fields, other jobs will diminish and even disappear.

I don’t think a robot is going to wanted to provide a pregnancy ultrasound any time soon, but AI will analyze that ultrasound better than any human professional. A robot might assist in laying electrical wire at a construction site, but it will still be a human serving you when you can’t figure out most electrical issues that you have in your home. It will still be a human who you call to figure out how to fix your leaky roof or toilet; a human who repairs your broken dishwasher or dryer. These jobs are safe for a while.

But I won’t want my next doctor to be diagnosing me without the aid and assistance of AI. And I would prefer AI to analyze my medical data. I will also prefer the more affordable products created by AI manufacturing. The list goes on and on as I look to where I will both see and want to see AI and robotics aiding me.

And what does this do to the working middle class? How do we tax AI and robots, to help replace the taxation of lost jobs? What do we do about increased unemployment as jobs for (former middle class) humans slowly disappear?

Will we have universal basic income? Will this be enough? What will the middle class look like in 10 or 20 years?

There is no doubt that we are heading into interesting times. The question is, will these disruptions cause upheaval? Will these disruptions widen the wealth gap? Will robotics and AI create more opportunities or more disparity? What will become of our middle class… a class of people necessary to maintain a robust and healthy society?

The Reality of the Job

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I just did a meditation that led to a short nap, and now I’m reflecting on my day ‘off’.

There are some jobs that you never have to take home with you. A Starbucks barista doesn’t have to think about their job when they aren’t working. Even when I was a Starbucks manager, there were many days when my shift was over and I didn’t think much about work until I returned for my next shift… although there were times I ended up working much more than an 8 hour day. However, I didn’t enjoy being a Starbucks manager nearly as much as being a teacher or principal of a school… but those are two very different jobs than the ones at Starbucks. The reality of being in education is that you take the job home with you.

I’ve been sick and away from work most of this week. And for a lot of it, I was truly off. A low-grade but persistent headache, flu symptoms and unpleasant coughing kept me from work, both physically and mentally. But it’s hiring time for next year and a couple positions I posted closed last night. And so today I spent most of the day coughing my way through interviews, catching up  on emails, and making some phone calls. I worked a 6+ hour day, despite it being a sick day. That’s the nature of work sometimes. I’m not complaining. I really rested yesterday and feel a lot better (though I sound a lot worse) today. It would have been nice to take today fully off too, but the reality is that some jobs just aren’t like that… and I chose a job that’s just not like that.

It’s pretty awesome being in a job with so many caring and thoughtful people that are dedicated to their jobs. It inspires me and makes days like this, days where I’m off, but not really off, to appreciate the dedication of others who do the same, don’t complain, and do a fantastic job. Whenever I hear someone complain about teachers having it easy, and having summers off, or any talk like that, it usually comes from one of two places: Either it’s from someone who doesn’t take their work home with them, or it’s from someone who does, but also benefits financially from doing so (working towards commission, a bonus, or getting paid overtime). Meanwhile teachers and principals work many extra unpaid hours and even when not well, despite having hundreds of sick days accumulated… And they put time in on weekends marking, and stay after school to prepare lessons, coach, and run events well into the evenings.

It’s the reality of the job, and it’s done for the love of serving others… Even when we aren’t at 100%.

The good news is that my headache has subsided, and I’m on the mend. I’m going to spend my weekend catching up on some shows I’ve neglected and getting a bit more sleep. I need to give myself the time I need to fully recover, to ensure that I stay healthy for the crazy month ahead.

 

Defining the Unconventional

Inquiry Hub is a very different school than a conventional high school. Students get a lot less direct instruction, they do a lot more group work and presentations, and they get time in their day to work on passion projects. These passion projects serve as their elective courses, and they get credit for doing them. And while we can’t offer the amazing array of electives courses students get in a large high school, students get to go in-depth on topics of interest in a way that they just don’t normally get to in a ‘regular’ high school.

Despite our grads moving on to programs like engineering and computer science, and despite acceptance to UBC, SFU, Emily Carr, BCIT, Waterloo, McGill, and other universities, colleges, and technical schools, we still get parents concerned that somehow their kids will be disadvantaged by going to our school.

Our kids transition to university very well, and do not struggle in their first year, unlike 12-15% of grads across the province that graduate high school successfully then don’t make it through their first year of university. But incoming parents are still worried that their kids won’t be prepared for university. The skills they learn in our school to self advocate, self-direct, and structure their own learning are exactly the skills student don’t get in far more scripted learning environments where the teacher tends to determine what students are doing for almost the entire day in a traditional block schedule.

Skills learned at Inquiry Hub not only help students when they get to university, but these skills also help students be more entrepreneurial, more innovative, and more prepared to be productive in a knowledge economy. Our students will prepare presentations for a midpoint in a project that would blow away what a team would do for a final project in another school, or even what a marketing team would do for a client pitch. Guests in our school are continually blown away by the confidence and professionalism of student presentations.

We are still iterating, we are still learning, we are still figuring out how to help students who struggle… but that’s part of what makes the school great. The environment is dynamic, flexible, and responsive. And students learn that learning is a process. They learn to share their learning in meaningful ways. And they learn to be productive members of a learning community. If that’s considered unconventional, we’ll just keep being unconventional.