LIVING SKILLFULLY LIVING WELL ABBAS HUSAIN Director Teachers

LIVING SKILLFULLY LIVING WELL ABBAS HUSAIN Director Teachers’ Development Centre FOR FEN 12 DECEMBER 2007

• The 21 st century is a good time to be young… • As well as a very hard time to be young.

Today the entire knowledge of the world is available at a single click… And yet there is an enormous ignorance of the basics of good decent living.

Why is this so? MODERNITY ITSELF MUST BE SEEN AS A SOURCE OF THESE TENSIONS

To be young in Pakistan Is an added challenge… FROM 2008 TO 2016 You must know that we are going to enjoy a Demographic Dividend

That is to say a Population Bonus Which means 60% of all Pakistanis will be between the ages of 15 to 24

JUST THINK WE WILL HAVE A MAJORITY OF YOUNG PEOPLE … AND WE WILL BE READY FOR A FUTURE OF PEACE, PROSPERITY AND PLENTY… ONLY IF WE PLAN NOW!!!

NO OTHER COUNTRY • IN OUR REGION WILL HAVE IT… • NOT INDIA… NOT BANGLADESH… • ONLY PAKISTAN • Other countries like Malaysia knew about it in the 1960 s…and they planned for it… look at them today!

If we don’t plan for it… that is to say if you don’t look out for the message we are giving you here today… You will not only be unemployed… but unemployable.

If you’re a college student today, barring death, you will live, love, work, and play in the years ahead… the 21 st Century… 2007 is almost gone! That is one certainty…

What will it be like? And how can you prepare for this journey?

• The 21 st century is the first century in which the computer is KING. • This is the first century in its entirety to belong to the Information Age. Because of that, it will be different than any century preceding it.

• If you UNDERSTAND PREPARE for the challenges ahead, you can seize the opportunities they hold.

• If you IGNORE those challenges and wander casually into the future, you may be one of the casualties.

The Seven Principles of the Information Age 1. 2. 3. 4. Knowledge is Power The pace of life will accelerate Change will be pervasive. We will be overwhelmed with information 5. Diversity will dominate 6. The secure, lifetime job will be a thing of the past. 7. Enormous challenges loom ahead.

1. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER • In the information Age, strength and power are related to knowledge. • The strongest countries are those with the best educational systems, which produce the best scientists, technicians and managers.

• In the information age, the height of your career ladder will be largely determined by the depth and breadth of your knowledge.

• The implications of this truth are profound. If you want to prosper in the next century, you must do it with your BRAIN.

2. THE PACE OF LIFE WILL ACCELERATE • If anything characterizes contemporary society , it is SPEED.

The pace of life will accelerate • As smaller chips are manufactured with more circuits, computers get faster and smaller. As computers become faster and smaller, they become more portable and more affordable. As portability and affordability increase, so does the speed with which business and industry is conducted.

3. Change will be pervasive • Technological innovation will constantly alter our lives. • In the early days of the television industry, three networks broadcast programs to a few thousand viewers in one country. With cable television, there were dozens of channels pumping out information to millions of customers across the world. Already there are hundreds of channels.

• Nations, industries and companies rise and fall. Those who best cope with constant change will endure and prosper.

4. Information overload • It’s extremely difficult to keep up with all the advances in any one field. • Its impossible to keep up with all the advances in all fields.

5. Diversity will dominate • We live in a global economy, buying, selling, and trading with every part of the world. The planet will continue to shrink as transportation grows faster and instantaneous communication networks reach all areas of the globe.

• You will be called upon to do business with people whose culture, language and beliefs differ from yours.

6. The secure, lifetime job will be a thing of the past • Employees wont work for a giant corporation over a thirty year career that culminates in a retirement dinner and a gold watch… most likely they will know of a golden handshake! • People will have many jobs and a number of careers.

• Some would say that the traditional job is an endangered species. • Downsizing has become a way of life in corporate world, affecting blue collar and white collar employees alike.

• More and more people will manage their own careers, selling their expertise to a variety of individuals and organizations as self-employed entrepreneurs.

7. Enormous challenges loom ahead • As the population grows on a planet that doesn’t, there are numerous obstacles to peace and prosperity looming on the horizon: overpopulation, environmental degradation, violence, disease and poverty.

• While every seven principles implies the importance of learning, there are three which really shout out: – Knowledge is power – Change is rapid – Information overload can drown us.

• If knowledge is power in the 21 st century, who would choose to enter it weak? But knowledge is located in people, and information is located in computers and books!!! So to get at people, you need another set o skills!

• Well you’ll be enter the 21 st century unarmed if you’re not well educated. • To process in the Information Age, you must know how to acquire process, and use knowledge. • The best jobs will require knowledge.

• We must, however, be crystal clear about one thing. • There is too much knowledge for you to master in four short years of college.

• Moreover, because change is rapid and new knowledge is constantly being created, you’ll soon be an anachronism – unless you make a commitment to lifelong, continuous learning. • Cultivating that mindset should be your number one priority.

• You must keep up with advancing knowledge in order to be a player in the information age, but it is very easy to drown in it.

This information overload implies at least two things • You must be capable of learning rapidly otherwise you’ll be left behind. • You must be selective in what you learn.

What does it mean to become a lifelong learner? 1. DESIRE to learn 2. ABILITY to learn

SO LET ME TURN TO PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS: WHAT ADVICE AM I GIVING YOU ALL TODAY?

THREE ITEMS: THREE WAYS OF FOCUSING OUR TIME AND ATTENTION

A focus on SHARING While competition is what we have been taught all our lives, Don’t underestimate the fruits of COOPERATION

A focus on LANGUAGE Take note of your language skills In both English and Urdu You must realize that Urdu is your ROOT While English is your ROUTE to modern knowledge

A focus on TIME People don’t plan to fail: …. they just fail to plan!

TIME Put your time to good use, improve your skills. The decades ahead will be extremely unforgiving of people who do not have the skills.

• If you don’t work according to your own plan: • You are in fact working on someone else’s!!! Don’t complain then when things that you want don’t happen

So What is the conclusion? Do what you have to do: Not because you are being told to do so But because you are old enough to decide to take charge of your life

A life dedicated to a purpose beyond self…

I would like to conclude on two powerful thoughts Surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change that which is in themselves ---Surah Ra’ad, 13: 11

AND And help you one another in in righteousness and piety, but help not one another in sin and rancour Surah Maidah, 5: 2

THANK YOU

If you want this presentation: just e-mail: info@tdc. edu. pk

ABBAS HUSAIN Director Teachers’ Development Centre 129 -G Block 2 PECHS Karachi 75400 http: //www. tdc. edu. pk E-mail: info@tdc. edu. pk Tel: 021 -4310217/4392949