The digital revolution has arrived. As automation becomes ever more common, even those professions once thought to be insulated from technological disruption(扰乱)face an uncertain future. Given that state of uncertainty, Northeastern University President Joseph Aoun argues that college graduates can no longer be confident that the job they hold will be financially sustainable for the long term. Automation, long a threat to low-skilled jobs, is now cost-effective in all repetitive work, including high-skilled jobs in health care, law, and research. Thus, for many the prospect of being replaced by a robot is more pressing.
To address this, it falls to higher education to prepare graduates for changes that are sweeping through the world of work. But how can institutions prepare the next generation, when it's not clear what professions will exist to employ them?
Aoun argues that universities must reinvent themselves to address this age of disruption and to provide their students with the educational foundation that ensures their employability in the coming decades. To do so, he calls for higher education to focus on those features that separate humans from machines. He named this new framework "Humanics".
Aoun details a two-tiered(两层的)structure for Humanics and explains how these tiers work together to develop creativity in students. The first tier consists of 21st-century literacies that he argues must be central to any forward-thinking educational program. In addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic, Aoun argues that all students must be competent in data interpretation and analysis, technical functions like engineering, and human-centric studies such as design thinking and communication.
This first tier of literacies forms the basis for Aoun's second tier of cognitive(认知的) capacities. Systems thinking, critical thinking, and cultural awareness constitute the mind-sets that Aoun argues are critical to distinguishing human employees from machines. A student with these mind-sets can solve problems creatively while making logical judgments.
Having defined what a robot-proof education must involve, Aoun looks into how that education should be offered and what colleges and universities must do to meet the needs of a modern student body. He calls for higher education to fully accept experiential, lifelong learning. He argues that it is only through rich experiences that students can apply their 21st-century literacies to complex problems, which will eventually shape their mind-sets. This type of learning must be lifelong because the rapid rate of change that accompanies automation will require that students consistently refresh their skill sets
Aoun acknowledges that education will never be a cure-all for society's ills. A more practical approach might be to see Humanics not as a new medicine but rather as a supplement to our current educational system.
In an automated world, to prepare for the economic disruption such automation may cause, higher education must create a generation of graduates that is liberated to think creatively while continuing to function in more traditional capacities. Perhaps that will ensure workers and the universities that educate them are indeed robot proof.
9. What does the underlined word "insulated" in Paragraph 1 probably mean?
A.Generated | B.Sheltered | C.Prohibited. | D.Separated. |
10. What can we learn about automation from the first two paragraphs?
A.It has posed a threat to employment. | B.It has made high-skilled jobs demanding. |
C.It helps to fuel the process of digitalization. | D.It promotes the development of new professions. |
11. According to Joseph Aoun, institutions should________.
A.set the trend for automation | B.provide a robot-proof education |
C.redefine the framework of Humanics | D.value cognitive capacities over literacies |
12. What does the passage mainly discuss?
A.Where is automation leading us? | B.What does Humanics mean to universities? |
C.Why is it critical to acquire higher education? | D.How can we get ready for an uncertain future? |