IN her thought-provoking article, Shona Craven suggests that maybe schools should be aiming to produce well-rounded, thoughtful and adaptable young people, rather than steering them down ‘’narrow paths of vocational learning’’ (Is it really the job of schools to pump out work-ready youngsters? The National, January 12). The two scenarios are not incompatible of course.
However, in a rapidly changing world where it is estimated that at least of 40 per cent of present jobs will in future go to robots and a large percent of the rest will be in the hands of artificial intelligence systems as yet undreamed of, it is impossible for our schools meaningfully to even speculate on, much less attempt to implement, narrow paths of vocational learning.
No, it is, as it has always been, the aim of our schools to concentrate on the first of Shona’s aims and help produce the citizens of the future.
Doug Clark
Currie, Midlothian
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