Amid the gloom there are reasons to be cheerful – thousands of them
An eye-catching graffito aside the streets of London declares: Sorry! The lifestyle you ordered is currently out of stock. It [...]
Posted on January 20th, 2012 by Steven Schwartz
An eye-catching graffito aside the streets of London declares: Sorry! The lifestyle you ordered is currently out of stock. It captures the sense of disillusionment now sweeping Europe and the United States as economies nose-dive, unemployment grows, and governments struggle to come to terms with the legacy of living too deep in the red for too long. Now this week Australians are told that they should brace for the ugliest of times if the latest World Bank warning of a new financial crisis proves correct.
The just-released 2012 World Economic Forum Global Risks report also makes for glum reading:
“Across every sector of society, decision makers are struggling with the complexity and velocity of change in an increasingly interdependent world … In the decade ahead, our lives will be more intensely shaped by transformative forces, including economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological seismic shifts. The signals are already apparent with the rebalancing of the global economy, the presence of over seven billion people and the societal and environmental challenges linked to both. The resulting complexity threatens to overwhelm countries, companies, cultures and communities.”
As if this wasn’t bad enough, its analysis reveals “a constellation of fiscal, demographic and societal risks” signalling a dystopian future for much of humanity:
“The interplay among these risks could result in a world where a large youth population contends with chronic, high levels of unemployment, while concurrently, the largest population of retirees in history becomes dependent upon already heavily indebted governments. Both young and old could face an income gap, as well as a skills gap so wide as to threaten social and political stability.”
It’s enough to make you want to pull the covers over your head and never get out of bed again.
To be sure, times are tough for many and look as if they’re about to get tougher. But history is replete with discontinuities and crises. When Britain’s Prime Minister Harold Macmillan declared in 1957 that “most of our people have never had it so good” it was entirely relative to what had so recently gone before – not only two world wars, countless deaths and massive destruction, but as he noted himself “rationing, shortages, inflation, and one crisis after another in our international trade“. Even then, the Cold War was at its frostiest and many feared a nuclear Armageddon. Despite this, people got on with their lives and did their best to build a better world.
As the philosopher John Gray puts it
“Humans are sturdy creatures built to withstand regular disruption. Conflict never ceases, but neither does human resourcefulness, adaptability or courage.”
Indeed, the World Economic Forum’s Klaus Schwab alludes to this in the otherwise bleak Global Risks report, writing that “the more complex the system, the greater the risk of systemic breakdown, but also the greater potential for opportunity …
“Together we have the foresight and collaborative spirit to shape our global future …”
We who work in education are intimately involved in trying to shape a better future. Charged with the care of young people, it is our bounden duty to nurture and develop their innate resourcefulness, adaptability and courage.
As a new academic year dawns many thousands of new undergraduates are set to take up places at Australia’s universities. They have the world at their feet and a future to make. And that is a great cause for optimism.
Steven Schwartz
Comments
Technically you have a point. Before there was doom and gloom, but what has changed is instead of us ignoring it, or it being hidden from us, we can now hear it, see it and smell it. We are awake. We can see the convenient and the inconvenient truths of our age. Before the doom and gloom existed and it still does. But thankfully what has changed is ourselves. Hopefully if we can see, that we can also do something. We can change. Maybe change is the part of ourselves which can undo all the doom and gloom. After all something cannot ever be fixed if we pretend it's not broken. I see this as a step in the right direction. Acceptance . Being awake. Maybe a improved form of clarity. It won't happen over night. No magic is going to fix all the doom and gloom in an instant but we're getting somewhere. And the further we go, the better a place will come too. Where in possibly the darkest part of the woods. But at least we know it. And maybe we are finally serious about fixing it.
Al - January 22, 2012
Optimism by itself is not enough. Hard work, enterprise and imagination are vital - will these young undergrads be up to the challenge? I have my doubts ...
Little Boots - January 22, 2012
I like the post and also Al's comment. Yes, we're more informed about the issues, via both formal and social media. You can't avoid the reality, and i think there are many who want to make a difference. And lots of them find their way to our universities. As a mother of 2 sons (16 and 19) doing some very amazing things, i don't share Little Boots' doubts about the next generation's ability to rise to the challenge. And i think (as educators), we have to ask the question of ourselves - can we design real challenges into our subjects and courses - so our students can learn to do the hard things, that they will need, and which provide confidence to strike out in the real world and... fix stuff! Can we stop talking at them, can we get out of the way, and let them show us what they're made of?
Sarah Lambert - February 3, 2012