Learning and Education

Welcome to our second weekly headlines for 2013. This week's stories include:

• A Science Rendezvous to Inspire the Next Generation
  
• Next Steps for the Mars One Project
• Feeding the Planet Would Be Easier if We Didn't Waste Half of What We Produce
  

Welcome to 2013 and our first headlines posting of the year. This week's stories include:

• Mars Rover Approaches Ninth Anniversary on the Planet and is Still Ticking
• Study Correlates Climate Change with Increased Episodes of Volcanism

The age of the textbook as I remember it is truly coming to an end. Educational publishers can feel the heat if they are not already out of business. That's because educational publishers have never adapted to the way learning has changed because knowledge delivered is no longer the way young people learn.

Clearly, the world is reeling from the inability of young people to find jobs. It is not at all surprising to hear that many college graduates are struggling to find and keep jobs immediately after graduation. As these twenty-something’s return back from their summer vacations and hit the job pavement, many more are finding that their hard-won diplomas no longer guarantee immediate employment.

What working people often need is some way to learn exactly what they need to learn, when they need to learn it. It’s time to change the old paradigm of “degree factories” and welcome the prototype of “innovation centers” at our colleges and universities.

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed into law the famous Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order that granted some freedom to slaves. But true freedom was still a century away for those who lived in the black vs. white world leading up to the Civil Rights movement, an effort that began in earnest in the 1950s.

The Education Bubble caused by credentialism, generational conflict and a receding 20th century economy does not just affect the young. Sure, when we think of "student loans" we immediately think of the standard student coming straight from high school and going directly into the maw of the American university debt monster.

Although digital divides between the world’s industrialized and developing areas loom large, development experts are finding ways to cross them.

As the summer heat comes blasting across the country, it’s a perfect time to relax in a beach chair by the pool and read a book. Luckily, the World Future Society has a Summer Reading List to help you pick the perfect read. As a bonus, you can come to the WorldFuture 2012 conference in Toronto this July and meet these authors!