Edward Hess, spouse of Albemarle County School Board member Kate Acuff and professor of business administration at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, reflects upon the importance of developing lifelong-learner competencies in our young people:

“Are you aware that smart robots and other smart machines have skills that we used to think of as exclusively human? Machines powered by artificial intelligence are reading MRIs and writing news articles; robots are helping the elderly perform daily tasks; and driverless vehicles are being deployed in the mining industry. It might sound like science fiction, but it’s actually science nonfiction. And the next five to ten years are expected to bring yet more stunning technology advances. Carl Frey and Michael Osborne of the University of Oxford predict that 66 percent of the current U.S. job force has a medium to high likelihood of being replaced by technology over the next decade or two. Good jobs could well be in short supply.

This reality has me concerned about my granddaughters’ future. What skills and abilities will they need in order to flourish? Will they be prepared? Will your children be prepared?” Read more of this Huffington Post op-ed »