Is Entrepreneurial Education the Solution to the Automation Revolution?

• In Event: 51.063 - Education and Technological Unemployment: Dilemmas and Possibilities

Abstract

A dominant neoliberal narrative for the last few decades has been that the only constant in the world was change and that education systems had to be revolutionized to impart the entrepreneurial mindset and skills assumed necessary to meet the challenges of a global, post-Fordist knowledge economy: i.e. everyone was to become adaptable, resilient, problem-solving and digitally-proficient lifelong learners who could not only exploit existing opportunities for wealth generation but also create novel monetizable possibilities for others to build upon. Today, the call to create more entrepreneurial individuals has only intensified amidst concerns a growing technological revolution in artificial intelligence, robotics and computing power could automate millions of jobs, increase competition and increase inequality. Educators, media pundits and policy makers overwhelmingly believe some form of ‘entrepreneurial education’ (often appearing as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), '21st century learning', 'Grit', entrepreneurship, financial literacy, problem-based inquiry or lifelong learning) is needed to respond to the economic dislocation the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ is predicted to bring (Schwab, 2016).

The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze entrepreneurial education advocates’ claims that entrepreneurial education is an effective means to ensure many, if not all, can obtain the means to live a relatively financially secure life; that it will help create meaningful work; and that it will contribute to a fairer distribution of work and wealth. This paper draws from a range of policy documents (Ball, 1989; Frey et al., 2016; Leadbeater, 2016; Ontario Ministry of Education, 2016; Salzano, 2006), mainstream media texts (Friedman, 2011; Lacavera, 2017; Williams, 2017) and post-work and critical scholarship (Gorz, 2011; Means, 2018; Weeks, 2011) to analyze each promise in turn. I begin by outlining the ethical and ontological problematizations which frame each promise. I then present the intractable political economic obstacles barring entrepreneurial education from solving the economic insecurity, anomie and economic injustice increased automation is predicted to bring. Finally, I challenge the ethical and ontological problematization which frame the above promises, offering alternative problematizations, solutions and a vision of education aligned with the responsibility we have for others’ wellbeing. The paper stresses that to avoid a precarious, inequitable future augmenting capital and its machines, educators must reject entrepreneurial education. In its place they must promote the pursuit and mastery of those activities and interests which students find meaningful and those which improve the civic skills and dispositions needed to imagine, deliberate and debate with others how to create a post-work world where all can be economically secure, engage in meaningful activities and participate in democratic governance.

Author

• Chris Arthur, York University