TEACHING MATTERS:A number of events marked, if not caused, significant shifts in the evolution of 20th-century Ireland. These events had the character of a symbolic occurrence in the national imagination, crystallising the emergence of a changing Irish identity or self-image.
Pearse's oration at the graveside of O'Donovan Rossa, for instance, might be seen as one such moment. In more recent times, the election of Mary Robinson as President of Ireland, might also be seen as another such moment. Her election in 1990 marked Ireland's turning point as an economically successful, globally aware, self-confident society, which in the following two decades would see the reversal of emigration, a doubling of employment, a redefinition of the role of women in society and a pervasive sense of national cultural celebration.
This year's school-leavers were all born after Mary Robinson's election. They have no memory of Ireland pre-1990. They should be free of the distinctive neuroses and complexes of previous generations. They will have grown up with the assumption of economic success and with the conviction that such success inevitably follows hard work and ingenuity. They have had little experience of scarcity in any aspect of their lives. They were possibly the first generation of children for whom spending on children's toys was a year-long event as opposed to a seasonal celebration. As teenagers, part-time work opened up unprecedented earning and spending power to them.
This summer, the price of oil breached $100 per barrel for the first time. This event might have the same significance in marking an axial change of direction in Ireland's evolution as those of the 20th century referred to above. It certainly drew attention to the vulnerable foundations upon which so many of the assumptions regarding economic growth are predicated.
And so a generation of teenagers whose life experience is one of plenty may be faced with planning for scarcity. Unlike countless generations before them, who experienced privation in their youth on the promise of prosperity as they got older, the opposite may well be the case for this generation. It is certainly true in the context of the global financial crisis that previously unquestioned assumptions regarding the ongoing success of the western economic model are now open to challenge.
Much of the thinking regarding investment in education in Ireland is based on a national commitment towards building a "knowledge society".
There has been inadequate attention as to the specifics of the kinds of knowledge young people are going to require to negotiate the hurdles of the future which are now coming into focus. Today's generation of school leavers must confront the challenges of energy security; the shift in economic power from West to East; the growing challenge of climate change and environmental degradation, and the realisation that in operating in a globalised economic environment, history provides a poor guide to the future.
These challenges demand a new mix of expertise, ingenuity and self- and global-awareness from all involved in Irish education. In short, they demand that we look closely at what a "knowledge society" really is.
• Tom Collins is Head of Education at NUI Maynooth
