I have never been in the business of predicting the future. Those who predict future events, even if they have solid research and years of first hand experience, get it wrong half the time. In my mind people who try to predict the future are soothsayers, alarmists, or hobbyists.
On television, soothsayers are often introduced as experts. This is handy because when talking-heads ask soothsayers to give their opinion the words they utter are held in high regard. Their legitimacy can vary from having a basket of degrees and decades of experience, to having made a name for themselves somehow. The predictions soothsayers make vary from who will win this weekend's football games to the outcome of the Syrian Civil War.
Next are alarmists. Alarmists want others to feel and believe the way they feel, fear what they fear, and act as they would act. Like soothsayers, alarmists’ legitimacy can be impressive and varied but they rarely have any subtlety, listen to other opinions, and most of the time go for shock and awe.
Finally are hobbyists. Hobbyists dedicate themselves to a given subject but instead of making predictions their full-time gig, it is their full-time hobby. Like the soothsayer or alarmist, they might have a great deal of experience but at the end of the day, hobbyists have other things to do.
Of the three above I am most like the hobbyist. I have never claimed to be an expert at anything so I cannot be a soothsayer and it takes way too much energy to be an alarmist. This leads me to my predictions as a fun loving hobbyist. Over the next few months and years I will make a variety of predictions about the future of higher education. Some of my predictions I truly think will come true while others...not so much.
Respice, adspice, prospice; coat of arms of Bootle, England, and the motto of the City College of New York.
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