LOOKING TO THE FUTURE What do you think the future holds in these four areas?

CAREERS AND EMPLOYMENT

1. What will our work lives be like in the future?

a) Fewer people will be employed for life by a single company. Our career paths will be more fluid, and we will change jobs frequently.

b) Globalisation will undermine traditional life, and there will be fewer jobs and more competition.

c) Traditional ways and new ways of doing business will coexist harmoniously.

EDUCATION AND LEARNING

2. What trends in education do you think will be common in the future?

a) Online learning and virtual study groups will replace the traditional brick-and-mortar school.

b) More people worldwide will be learning Spanish and Chinese so that they can be competitive in the workplace.

c) Rather than being dependent on the teacher for all the answers, students will be encouraged to facilitate class discussions and to learn from their peers.

FAMILY AND RELATIONSHIPS

3. What will the family of the future be like?

a) The primary breadwinner and key decision maker in many families will be a woman.

b) More families will be multicultural, as the Internet and global travel make it possible for people to meet and marry someone from another country.

c) As the birthrate in many places drops sharply and there is less family support, elderly people will form communities to care for each other.

HEALTH AND MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

4. What will some of the key developments in health and medicine be?

a) Breakthroughs in research will lead to cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s and other deadly diseases.

b) Parents will use genetic profiling to select the physical characteristics of their children.