Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Tomorrow's Most Wanted

There was panic. I remember people were lined up at the gas station rushing to fill their tanks before midnight. “Y2K” was believed to bring about major complications for anything guided or monitored by a computer as the year clicked over to 2000. Fear about anticipating the future was stirred to fever pitch by some media outlets. The end result? Nothing newsworthy happened.

In a conversation last week following the visit of the new JK/SK students arriving this fall, I used the phrase “LCES class of 2025.” I have to admit, it felt a little like something out of science fiction, since that it is a quarter century after the supposed crisis of the end of 1999. What will the world of our grade eight graduates be like at that point? I’m sure we can’t entirely understand and I’m thankful that our incoming students will have the opportunity of nine or ten years of faith-nurturing, perspective-shaping, and habit-forming Christian education before then. It is an investment well worth making that will prepare them for what lies over the horizon, a future already known by God.

Our graduates will someday look for work to fulfill their God-given purpose. What will tomorrow’s job recruiter be looking for? A 2013 study of 500 top leaders who collectively employ millions was entitled “Tomorrow’s Most Wanted.” This poll revealed that personality, not competence, is the most highly valued trait. A desire for employees who can collaborate, adapt quickly, are personable, and
have the drive to get the job done have an enormous advantage. In other words, evidence of initial
task-specific competency was far less important compared to the substance of the person’s character.

These are important cues to us as we consider the changing nature and methods of Christian education in the present world. I’m confident that we are preparing our students well for their unique
future when we challenge them to know themselves intimately as leaders, learners, and children of
God. May God bless our current graduates as they seek to be a faithful presence in the unique and
important place where God will plant them. SJ

No comments:

Post a Comment