STEM and soft skills

These days, people have mentioned 'STEM' (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) really often and feelings about this topic are mixed. It is toward the 'bitter' side for quite a few on the social sciences end.

 

I came across an article written by Rahuldeep Gill on July 20, 2016 entitled, ‘Nothing “Soft” About Soft Skills.’ and it’s the right time to share with you ka.

Though it focuses on American education, there’re many implications we need to think further to fit best with our own contexts, complications, and confusion.

The author points out that ‘STEM’ fields are highly valued because of graduates’ higher pay than those majoring in History, English, and Sociology (Um! English could make much more money here in our country than the other two mai ka?) STEM thinking has helped solve important human problems as well.

His argument is, “Can human problems be solved without human skills, like team-building and introspection?”

He stated that, ‘some of the most exciting work happening on college and university campuses, isn’t happening in labs, or in lecture halls. It’s happening at coffee shops, dorm lounges, and in student unions.” He also mentions that it means students work together to plan and raise awareness…….and students are able to break out of their shells and build relationships with one another. This model, according to him is the kind of open, thoughtful society that our students hope to live in. Opening up to the society/community like helping underserved communities or working across lines of religions and faiths, enriches students to see a world of possibilities that seems closed off to them together for a common goal…something that’s more important than each specific field itself.

“We would never want to graduate a generation of technical thinkers who couldn’t relate to others. Gender and racial inequities in STEM careers themselves are among the myriad human problems that need solving.” Rather, he says students need to learn how to navigate in diverse social environments and learn how to build community.  They should be provided spaces where they can practice being brave and speaking their minds. …we need leaders who are equipped with human solutions.

True innovations happen in communities. Dreams are realized in partnerships, not alone. Our students are practicing dream-making when they mentor each other, extend the classroom, and expand their minds. This is what will build a better future tomorrow.

I’ve drawn quite a few keywords from this article. They are: ‘attitudes toward the two sciences’, ‘balance of the two’, ‘soft skills amid technology advances (and craze like Pokemon Go), ‘required qualities of students for distant tomorrow’, ‘needed thinking and actions for safe and secure world’, etc.

Cheers to the two sciences and hope we humans can maximize their benefits for our better future tomorrow kaaa!

Our world in 10 years' time

Hello to everyone kaaa!

I was feeling so ‘fin’, reading a summary of a book (by summary.com) entitled, ‘The Industries of the Future’ by Alec Ross.

The summary states that the author tells us the changes to be expected in the next 10 years. The specific fields that include robotics, cybersecurity, the commercialization of genomics, the next step for big data and the coming impact of digital technology on money and markets.

He also stresses that innovation doesn’t happen in closed environments, and innovative companies will continue to steer clear of countries with regressive policies on gender.

What should we expect to see, think, and prepare are:

1. Robots will become part of our lives especially to take care of our elderly, arising from Japan as by 2020, the number of the elderly will rise to 29 percent and reach 39 percent by 2050. Toyota built a nursing aide named Robina and we can expect to see more not only in the geriatric care, but also in the labor-intensive work. Two Oxford University professors point out that 47% of American jobs are at high risk for robot takeover, and another 19 percent face a medium level of risk.
   
   
2. Following the development of genomics, Personal Genome Diagnostics, PGDx, can become our cancer specialist. While it is highly helpful, it could cause concern, leading the creation of ‘designer babies’.
   
   
   New types of health workers will also be seen “who are supported by mobile technologies. Health systems will be decentralized, local and preventative. Primary health care information will be free for every family, zero-rated by governments and mobile operators. There will be vaccines for malaria, cholera and other deadly diseases, and mobile technologies will play a critical role in distributing them to everyone.”
   
   
3. Bitcoin will become much more common while blockchain-- cryptographic invention will be used to reduce the possibility of fraud.
   
   
4. More cyberattacks could be seen. Three main types of cyberattacks today identified are: “attacks on a network’s confidentiality, availability and integrity.”
   
   
5. Big Data stays on and the amount of digital data grows by 50 percent. The value will lie on “our new ability to use that data in real time to make smarter, more efficient decisions.” It should have a crucial role to feed our more populated world “from the combination of big data and agriculture — precision agriculture.”
   
   
6. Proper use of data will be very important while privacy is to be compromised somehow.
   
   
7. Leaders have to be open with much less control as “future growth depends on empowering people.”
   
   
8. Multicultural fluency and foreign language skills as well as scientific language are to be equipped.
   
   

I don’t think I can digest it well enough as the summary has offered ka but have chosen what is meaningful to me to share with you all na ka.

In 10 years’ time, though it may take a bit longer for Thailand, how can our Thai kids and the older generations stay competitive and survive fine ka when our first barrier on English proficiency is still hard to tackle; when our people are still working without letting others cross their ‘built boundaries’; when all generations don’t know much yet how to work together productively thinking beyond ‘authority’, ‘seniority’, and ‘face’ on some occasions to boost openness, creativity, and innovation; when our understanding of multicultural sensitivity and diversity has yet to be created; and when visionary leadership with personal actions aren’t so common to see!

A decade isn’t so long to come by kaaaa!

Painful about Thais' English Proficiency

Dear all, I had been really restless for 2 weeks as my desktop and notebook are both out of order at around the same time and even with ipad and iPhone, life wasn't what I really wanted it to be ka.

My close contact/friend sent me an article about ranking on English proficiency. 910,000 adults took EF English tests in 2014. It was confirmed that better English correlates with higher income and better quality of life, and women are better than men.

With no surprise, Thailand ranks real real low. If you haven't got to see it, here is what I've drawn from the list for 70 countries ranked ka:

12-- Singapore, 14-- Malaysia, 27--Korea, 30-- Korea, 31-- Taiwan, 32-- Indonesia, 33-- Hong Kong, 47-- China, 62-- Thailand, and 69-- Cambodia

I couldn't agree more with my friend who said the Thai style would try to find faults with the survey methodology and I should add the credibility of the company.

Instead of doing so, we should feel thankful for the company to come up with the ranking and for us to exert more energy collectively to have some systematic approaches for education institutions to use/try. There're quite a few successful projects and effective software applications around for us to explore further. A bit earlier, I was sharing about several too.

Several concerns are:

-- It isn't for the ministry of education to consider that it has to be in charge to do anything as ''One size fits all!".......again and again!

-- Any single successful pilot project doesn't mean it can become the blanket success of all schools at all levels and types, nor can individual successful pilot project be something political intervention is needed for nationwide implementation!

All through my life, I've seen politicians try to launch some 'new' project nationally to gain publicity or even for good cause. Unfortunately, more often than not, it only did  more harm than good, particularly to those schools with average and low performances, which make up the majority of the institutions! The policy not to teach English at a younger age or the revised policies to go back to teach it from earlier year or the funding support to promote learning was with insufficient careful planning, leaving kids and teachers at a complete loss. One big training during one summer could never lead us to the goal we've been yearning for!

Talking about it, what exactly is our goal for Thais to become more proficient? Have to go back to what I got from the previous seminar about awareness of the importance of the language proficiency as a key tool of communication, learning, career and promotion,  and future livelihood.

We don't seem to touch much about our own cultural traditions about หมั่นไส้ กลัวผิด กลัวถูกด่า/ว่า (answering too often could be viewed as showing off, not answering for being afraid of making mistakes and of being blamed....). To me, these are the root causes but as they seem to be abstract and are big challenge to tackle, not so many people take them up to improve our teaching-learning processes, making changes of our teachers and students plus senior administrators and parents.

What do you think should be the best ways/options for all generations to study English ka?

Over to you ka.