BUSINESS & GROWTH | 100%NEWS
Special Sunday Edition with Mr. Dominic Ashford
In this special Sunday edition of BUSINESS & GROWTH | 100%NEWS, our leading journalist Mr. Dominic Ashford opens a conversation about what truly matters: the future of our children, the transformation of education, and the new reality created by artificial intelligence. This is not simply an article about schools, grades or careers. It is a serious reflection on whether we are still preparing the next generation for yesterday’s world — while tomorrow is already demanding a completely different kind of human being: thoughtful, resilient, creative, ethical and capable of building a meaningful future.
Sunday evening is a strange time. The world seems to pause. Parents close their laptops. Children finish their homework. Someone prepares a school uniform for tomorrow. Someone checks the timetable. Someone habitually says to a child: “Study well, and everything will be fine.”
For decades, this phrase sounded like a parental prayer. It contained everything: love, fear, hope and the experience of the past. But in 2026, it is no longer the whole truth.
Studying well according to the old rules is no longer enough.
The world is changing faster than the school curriculum. Jobs are transforming faster than textbooks. Artificial intelligence is no longer somewhere in laboratories. It is already in offices, banks, media, legal documents, marketing, design, education, medicine and management. The Stanford AI Index 2025 notes that 78% of organisations were already using artificial intelligence in 2024, compared with 55% a year earlier.
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines or software, enabling them to perform tasks that typically require human cognitive abilities, such as learning, reasoning, and problem-solving.
This is not a technical news item. It is a civilisational signal.
We Prepared Children for a World That No Longer Exists
Most adults still think according to the formula of the twentieth century:
- get an education,
- find a stable job,
- work honestly,
- grow gradually,
- gain recognition,
- provide for your family,
- retire.
This model was not bad. It created millions of lives, careers and family stories. But it was built on a relatively predictable labour market. Today, that foundation is cracking.
The World Economic Forum, in its Future of Jobs Report 2025, states that technological change, economic uncertainty, geoeconomic fragmentation, demographic shifts and the green transition will together transform the global labour market by 2030. The report is based on the views of more than 1,000 large employers representing over 14 million workers across 55 economies.
Geoeconomic fragmentation refers to the policy-driven reversal of global economic integration, leading to the division of the world economy into distinct, competing trade and technological blocs.
In other words, it is not only one profession that is changing. The very logic of professional life is changing.
A child who is at school today will enter an adult economy in which some professions will be enhanced by artificial intelligence, some will be reinvented, some will disappear, and some do not even have names yet.
That is why the main parental question today is no longer:
“What profession should my child choose?”
The correct question is different:
“What kind of person must my child become in order to be needed in any future?”
Artificial Intelligence Does Not Take Away the Future. It Takes Away Illusions
Artificial intelligence does not destroy the human being. It destroys self-deception.
It quickly shows where a person is truly thinking, and where they are merely repeating. Where they create value, and where they perform mechanical operations. Where they are a leader, and where they are a transmission link. Where they are the author of a solution, and where they are merely an executor of instructions.
The Microsoft Work Trend Index 2025 describes modern work as a situation in which business demands already exceed human capacity, while AI-skilling and digital labour are becoming key organisational strategies.
This means that in the new economy, the winner is not the person who simply “works hard”. The winner is the person who can think correctly, learn quickly, cooperate with technology, make decisions and take responsibility.
The old world respected diligence.
The new world respects the ability to create meaning.
The old world asked: “What do you know?”
The new world asks: “What can you do with what you know?”
The old world gave instructions.
The new world requires initiative.
The Most Dangerous Deficit of the Future Is Not Technical, but Human
The paradox of our time is that the smarter machines become, the more valuable genuinely human qualities become.
Not the beautiful words written in school reports, but real qualities without which a person becomes lost in a complex environment:
- the ability to think;
- the ability to doubt;
- the ability to choose;
- the ability to negotiate;
- the ability to withstand stress;
- the ability to start again;
- the ability to see opportunities where others see only chaos.
Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2026 report shows a disturbing picture: in 2025, global employee engagement fell to 20%, the lowest level since 2020, while the global economic cost of low engagement is estimated at around 10 trillion US dollars.
This is not just statistics about adult workers. It is a mirror of our system of upbringing and education.
For decades, we taught people to meet requirements, but did not always teach them to be internally strong. We taught them to pass exams, but did not always teach them to understand themselves. We taught them to compete, but did not always teach them to create. We taught them to fear mistakes, although a mistake is often the beginning of entrepreneurial thinking.
And then we were surprised that adults burn out en masse, lose interest, fear change and wait for instructions.
Grades Matter. But They Are No Longer a Guarantee of Destiny
Grades, diplomas, certificates and academic achievements all matter. The problem begins when parents start believing that this is enough.
It is not enough.
A child may have good grades and still be unable to speak in public.
A child may know formulas and be unable to explain an idea.
A child may pass tests and be afraid of negotiations.
A child may remember dates and not understand money.
A child may be “obedient” and completely unprepared for independent life.
The twenty-first century does not abolish knowledge. It abolishes passive knowledge.
Knowledge without application becomes an archive.
Education without practice becomes decoration.
Intellect without character becomes a weak instrument.
That is why the future belongs not simply to “excellent students”. It belongs to those who can connect knowledge with action.
Entrepreneurial Thinking Is No Longer Only for Entrepreneurs
In the past, entrepreneurship was understood narrowly: to open a company, sell goods and make a profit.
Today, entrepreneurial thinking is not a profession. It is a basic skill for survival and development in an uncertain world.
Entrepreneurial thinking is a mindset that embraces critical questioning, innovation, and continuous improvement, crucial for identifying opportunities and solving problems creatively in various professional contexts.
Entrepreneurial thinking means:
- seeing a problem;
- looking for a solution;
- assessing risks;
- building a team;
- presenting an idea;
- calculating resources;
- understanding the client;
- withstanding pressure;
- not collapsing after failure;
- turning an idea into a result.
This is needed not only by a businessperson. It is needed by a doctor, a teacher, an engineer, an artist, a journalist, a civil servant, a scientist, an architect and a parent.
In a world of artificial intelligence, the winner is not the person who competes with a machine in speed. A human being will almost always lose to a machine in speed.
The human being wins elsewhere: in meaning, ethics, intuition, responsibility, empathy, leadership and the ability to connect what seems impossible to connect.
The Main Mistake of Parents Is Preparing a Child for “Safety”
Many parents want stability for their child. This is understandable. A loving parent does not want their child to suffer.
But stability can no longer be given through old recipes.
You can no longer say: “Learn one profession, and you will be protected.”
You can no longer say: “Get a diploma, and the market will be waiting for you.”
You can no longer say: “Do not take risks, and everything will be fine.”
Sometimes the refusal to take risks becomes the greatest risk of all.
The most honest parental strategy today is not to promise a child an easy life, but to give them tools for a difficult life.
Not to protect them from every difficulty, but to teach them how to go through difficulties.
Not to solve every problem for them, but to develop their ability to solve problems.
Not to cultivate dependence on authorities, but to form an inner core.
Because the world of the future will not be soft. But it will be full of opportunities for those who are ready to act.
The New Elite Is Not the Children of the Rich. It Is the Children of the Prepared
In the new economy, advantage will not belong only to those who have money. Money helps, but it is no longer the only key.
The real advantage will belong to children who were taught early:
- to think systemically;
- to speak convincingly;
- to work in a team;
- to respect work;
- to understand the value of money;
- to create projects;
- to be disciplined;
- to use technology;
- not to fear the stage;
- not to fear the world.
Such children do not wait for someone to give them a future. They gradually learn how to build it themselves.
And this is where education must stop being merely the transmission of information. It must become an environment for the formation of personality.
The school of the future is not a place where a child simply receives answers. It is a place where they learn to ask powerful questions.
The Sunday Question for Every Parent
This evening, when the house becomes a little quieter, it is worth asking yourself one honest question:
Am I preparing my child for the past that I understand, or for the future that they will have to live in?
It is an uncomfortable question. But it is necessary.
Because love for a child is not only care for today’s comfort. It is also the courage to prepare them for a world that will be different from ours.
A world where a diploma will be important, but insufficient.
A world where artificial intelligence will be present every day.
A world where work will change faster than habits.
A world where a weak personality will be lost, and a strong one will create new routes.
The Future Does Not Abolish the Human Being. It Demands a Better Human Being
Artificial intelligence can write a text.
But it cannot live a human destiny.
It can generate an image.
But it cannot replace the dream of a child who, for the first time, believed in themselves.
It can process data.
But it cannot take moral responsibility for a life, a family, a company, a country or a civilisation.
That is why the task of parents, educators and leaders today is not to panic before the future. And not to worship technology.
The task is to raise a generation that can use technology without losing human dignity.
A generation that will be not only intelligent, but strong.
Not only informed, but responsible.
Not only successful, but worthy.
Not only adaptive, but creative and constructive.
Because the future does not belong to artificial intelligence.
The future belongs to people who learn to be truly intelligent.
And perhaps, this very Sunday, it is worth saying to a child not only:
“Study well.”
But saying it differently:
“Learn to think. Learn to create. Learn to be a human being whom the future will trust.”
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