Lifelong learning in action (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photo Office)

As I write this essay, the sky outside my window is a dull, apocalyptic orange. The disorienting sight of wildfire smoke – a familiar scene for many worldwide – is new for most New Yorkers. Perhaps this will become as seasonal as the changing of the leaves, though I hope not.

Three years ago, in March 2020, I recall watching neighbors rush down our street, their arms full of grocery boxes. The SARS-CoV-2 virus was heading from Italy toward our coast. Though few of us knew it, life was about to become unrecognizable.

Years later––this February––I experienced existential awe and fear as I used ChatGPT for the first time. It was as though the science fiction movies of my childhood had come to life (Hello, C-3PO). Undoubtedly, these powerful machines will shape society in unknowable ways.

These three examples demonstrate a few realities about the 21st century: it is characterized by rapid change, complex challenges, and unpredictability. In this social climate, there is a premium on our ability to learn our way through diverse personal and professional challenges. The goal of this learning is adaptation. The format of this learning is self-directed.

For centuries, we have largely conceptualized learning as an early-life endeavor, formally occurring between early childhood and early adulthood; the late adult educator and sociologist Peter Jarvis called this a “front-end” model of education. Jarvis and others criticized this model for its restrictiveness, predicting that it would fail societies as they became increasingly affected by globalization, digitization, inequality/social exclusion, and the evolving nature of knowledge.

Jarvis was right. Look at the state of our politics. Look at the state of our public health. Look at the state of our environment. This is no time to stop learning.

But what does lifelong learning look like? It looks like retraining for the jobs of the future; developing strategies for climate-related disruptions; experimenting with diverse perspectives and worldviews; mastering artificial intelligence technologies; cultivating analytical thinking skills key to media literacy; collectively defining democratic citizenship; understanding the foundations of mental and physical health; learning how to age in place; and much more.

And what does a city with a culture of lifelong learning look like? According to the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, it is one that has inclusive education policies; makes educational technology accessible; sufficiently funds education/learning "ecosystems"; creates multiple spaces for learning; collaborates with social media companies, views education/learning as a social good; promotes a cultural shift towards lifelong learning, and has a strong social fabric.

I’m on a mission to help create a culture of lifelong learning in New York City. Will you join me? Together, we can survive the 21st Century.

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Ben Jurney is an Ed.D. Student in Adult Learning & Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University, and a former intern for Gotham Gazette.