To the Reader

What we have in mind is a “Canadian Centres for Futures Education” – everything you wanted to know about the future but did not know who to ask – The Future for Dummies (and a Resource for the Rest of Us).  (Note – futures is in the plural form because there are plural futures, not just one.  Centres is also in the plural form because we imagine that some day there will be centres across the country dedicated to the future(s).)

Currently, there are no Canadian University programs in Futures Studies.  There are a few programs in the U.S.  (see the "who's who" section).

 

Why Futures Studies?

The purpose in founding Canadian Centres for Futures Education is not simply to teach people to predict the future. Reading descriptions of this discipline,  it can seem like that is the ultimate goal; to predict the future with accuracy. While that may be the goal for some Futures Scientists, CCFE hopes that through the adoption and proliferation of Futures education, individuals as well as society will be imbued with wisdom and foresight that is currently lacking. Importance is placed on long-term effects and side effects, positive or negative. Rather than being able to predict the future and watch it unfold, it is far more useful and important to see in directions; to be able to choose the one that will take you where you want to go.

 

For a background on the discipline of Futures Studies, check out this site.

http://www.csudh.edu/global_options/IntroFS.HTML#Intro/OverviewFS 

 

Read the Futures Canada Brochure

Click here to read the Futures Canada promotional brochure.

 

 

Letter to Dr. David Chobar

 

Hi David, I hope you got a chance to check out the website.

 

I'll do my best to provide a good idea of what Futures Canada is all about.

 

Starting off, it is my belief that

 

1. Students are having their education obsolesced because they are not learning futures education. They are spending valuable time learning skills that quickly become outdated and unnecessary.

 

2. Because schools teach in a linear, verbal way students take much more time to learn than they need. Once there is a paradigm shift from linear/verbal teaching to digital/visual/collaborative learning it will be possible to teach students the same amount in a fraction of the time it takes now. This means that hopefully in the future a regular 12 grade education will produce a student with more knowledge than universities currently are now.

 

3. Because of the lack of digital/visual learning in schools, self-directed internet learning is by and large providing students with a better education in a fraction of the time than formal schooling. The smartest people I know were slowed down by formal education, not aided.

 

4. By making full use of the technology available, having a future-based teaching style and having students prepared by Futures Studies courses in high-school, universities should easily be able to produce a legion of geniuses with above expert level knowledge of their areas of expertise. Current "top minds" in their field would routinely be replaced by a 25 year old scholar who was free to study in a collaborative, self-directed way augmented by a library of easily accessible knowledge. How can it be said that a person doesn't know something if he can find the answer in 5 seconds with the click of a button?

 

A change in the way schools teach, to accommodate the way students are best at learning, is the paradigm shift necessary to continue the exponential growth of information. The minds of youth are reaching out to break free from a seemingly pre-historic way of learning that they are too evolved for. 13 year olds can hack into government mainframes, navigate educational sites or entertainment sites expertly. For them learning without networks is like downloading a movie with a 56k modem.

 

A course in Futures Education would be one that recognizes and exploits the strengths of technologically savvy youths. Teaching them to network for knowledge, encourage image-based learning as well as text, produce projects of large size in a small period of time by collaborating with a network of experts are among the skills that must be learned. Because they will be slowed down by their current system, they have to learn to manage their own self-directed learning until schools catch up with the students. For a time, a student trained in these skills will come out ahead of the rest if they spend a fraction of the time the other students spend in class, and use that time to network with students and teachers that have taken the course, or are familiar with the material. Using a blog or e-mail to ask the right questions can take only minutes and save hours. They still must read the relevant passages from the text, assuming the text is the most relevant and concise information source on the course material.

 

These skills will be gained by studying the actual course material/knowledge base of a Futures Studies program. This would include emerging technologies, developing social issues, scenario planning and strategic planning for the future, resource issues, environmental issues, and other information that can be applied to making the best decisions today to build the most desirable future. Values obviously differ between people, but in a democracy the strength of networks is central to implementing policy decisions.

 

The applications and specializations inherent in futures studies are very complex, and in truth it is a way of thinking that should pervade all disciplines, not just be a single course or degree program that provides experts with the ability to properly prepare for the future. However, affecting societal change has to start somewhere, and education is the best place for it.

 

"Our Cause" (yes, i'm finally getting to it :p) is to ultimately turn a world without futurism into a society of futurists. People run into all sorts of problems because of their inability to cope with change and an acceleration in that change will throw many more people into a "time" that they weren't prepared for. Businesses that aren't built to constantly change their products or paradigm will collapse. People who do not keep up with technology will essentially become obsolete. Low-skill jobs will not always be done by humans. However, capitalism, should it continue, would require everyone to maintain jobs or live in poverty. If mankind in general is not willing to "upgrade" itself, there is going to be a lot of pain for a lot of people. A futures studies course must convey this message to students as they are growing up.

 

I can obviously say a lot more about it, but this e-mail has already become too lengthy. I notice that your business card states "The morningside College experience cultivates a passion for life-long learning and a dedication to ethical leadership and civic responsibility."

 

This is a powerful message, because it coincides with the message of Futurism; that a person must constantly change along with the world, making important decisions that are not based on outdated information; and life-long learning is precisely what is necessary. The world is changing at an accelerating rate, and information (your college's product) must keep accelerating in its dissemination to keep up.

 

My website is meant as a library of everything you need to know about futurism. As I have said, self-directed learning is the fastest way to learn anything right now, and I am doing my best to augment it. I believe that a society of futurists, builders and networks will not be long away, and the potential to build a better future is tied tightly to the level of our education.

 

I hope you are interested in exploring this further, and I eagerly await your response.

Bob Stewart, Director
Canadian Centres for Futures Education
www.futurescanada.ca

 

 

 

I highly recommend becoming a member of the World Future Society, if for no other reason than to receive their Futurist Magazine (which is also available at major book stores):

 

THE WORLD FUTURE SOCIETY is a nonprofit, nonpartisan scientific and educational association with some 30,000 members worldwide. Membership in the Society, including a subscription to THE FUTURIST magazine and numerous other benefits, is just US$45 per year. For more information on the Society and all its programs, publications, and services, contact Membership Director Susan Echard, sechard@wfs.org , or visit http://www.wfs.org .  There is an annual Futurist Conference and a Futurist Library that are highly recommended - you can access information from the web site.

 

As a result of our 'brainstorming' at the World Future Society Conference (San Francisco, July 2003) education breakout session, there seemed to be a lot of sense in broadening our consideration of education systems in Canada to include 'education for the future'.  I think our common interests and things like the Millennium Project, Societally Connected Systems Thinking, etc. exemplify this.

 

Furthermore, because of our common interest and 'leadership' roles, I believe that the World Future Society should consider a Vision and Action Plan for Education for the Future - this is why I had suggested in San Francisco that there should be a substantial component of the next WFS Conference on Education for the Future in order to build consensus (and get diverse views) on a Vision and Action Plan - to move the WFS from just talk to action (Applied Future Education).  I fully believe that ultimately the chosen Vision and Action Plan for Education for the Future will be complimentary to a Vision and Action Plan at the International level as well as in our respective countries.  This will make for interesting discussions.

 

Futurism is a science.   More to come in the future ;-)

 

 

Time travel is possible. It's just a lot slower than in the movies and the only thing you can send backward is your mind.