(Five-minute read)
A few days ago a friend of mine described a group of children 5/6 years answering the following questions.
Where do fish come from? Answer Asda ( Supermarket)
Where does meat come from? Answer (Mc Donald’s )
It made me think that on one hand, parents and teachers are obsessing about making children into the perfect worker drones but on the other hand, they complain that kids these days have no creativity or concept of the world they live in.
Why?
Because, if ever, the present-day education is totally detached from the values that are needed to sustain life.
But why should we put so much time, money, and effort into education?
The reasons are obvious even if Leonardo da Vinci, after all, received none.
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Education is not cheap.
In every country, billions are wasted on futile learning almost everywhere.
With the current state of our planet, this has to change.
But education only has value in the society in which it exists, and that society is becoming a lazy Google society day by day.
So – why do it?
Many insects such as ants, bees, and cockroaches achieve their goals through outstanding cooperation and common understanding.
Luckily, or perhaps unluckily this has so far proved impossible for human beings.
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If we accept that culture plays a critical role in education and that successful education must fit the needs of the times, then, there is little doubt that:
- It is a waste of time and effort to try to emulate another country’s education system and, more important
- Most of what we teach today is not fit for purpose because it is founded on needs that are centuries out of date.
- Focussing on examination results produces great stress for little purpose in future life.
In its forms and methods, any education is an outgrowth of the needs of the society in which it exists.
Why are we examining students so stressfully on subjects that are less and less relevant when an app on a mobile phone is capable of calculations far more complex than any of us is likely to need.
The things young people need to learn change – and they are changing rapidly now.
The current curricula and methodologies with their outdated examination system no longer suffice, no longer reflecting the world we live in.
In 500 years, education today will surely be looked on in much the same way as we now regard medieval sanitation (appalling), regardless of country.
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But how and what needs to be changed?
To ensure that students learn to evaluate and respond to the social, economic, and political consequences of their work will require the development of an entirely new curriculum that gives the next generation of technologists, engineers, scientists, and mathematicians the formal foundations – including shared vocabulary and intellectual frameworks – for considering the macro effects of their actions on society.
Education must become the cornerstone of a more comprehensive long-term strategy to ensure that technology serves society in overwhelmingly positive ways.
Bringing about change in education by any form of government intervention is impossible and undesirable, also Those in the education industry are too close to it to bring about change.
Parents should be more involved with the non-academic aspects of their children’s schooling and employers should continue to demand more relevance of education systems around the world.
It seems that every country wants to emulate what they see of value in other country’s education systems.
What is needed is education in topics like “Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change” and “Computers, Ethics, and Public Policy.”
So where are we?
Over the centuries, parents have played a major role in their children’s education, so it is impossible to visualize a global education reformation.
All (a teacher) can do is plant some small seed of independent thought. However, if this seed depends increasingly on irrelevant or arcane knowledge, the time and resources spent acquiring high grades is a huge waste for both the individual and society.
In this unpredictable world where everything is a product for consumption informed decision making, creative problem solving, and perhaps above all, adaptability will be what is required.
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The rapid spread of COVID-19 has demonstrated the importance of building resilience to face various threats, from pandemic disease to extremist violence to climate insecurity, and even, yes, rapid technological change.
In a matter of weeks, coronavirus (COVID-19) has changed how students are educated around the world.
- The coronavirus pandemic has changed how millions around the globe are educated.
- New education solutions could bring much-needed innovation.
- Given the digital divide, new shifts in education approaches could widen equality gaps.
The development of AI should be paired with an ongoing study of its impact on human society if we are to gain a deeper understanding of how technology affects humanity.
So. What could help to overcome the education divide?
Generally, education is always associated with the process of delivering skills, disseminating knowledge, and internalizing values.
Not much unfortunately as it is those who are better educated, and who should be sensitive to discrimination – who can benefit – often unknowingly -from the inequality they help to create are in charge.
What is true is if there is a deficit of educated people society as we know it stops its further progress.
Take for example;
It remains true that the development of a child in the west has nothing in common with developing into a member of society in ancient Greece, but Education is a combination of the Past and now how to Face the Future.
“We can’t cut down rainforests forever. And anything that we can’t do forever is by definition, unsustainable” – David Attenborough.
Education will never disappear. It will take up different forms.
Personalized learning.
More e-learning platforms. Etech in the classroom. Digital Literacy.
Social and Emotional skills as a priority, with accelerated learning and
teacher as a guide.
Not limited to a physical school.
Traveling classrooms. More affordable
All human comments are appreciated. All like clicks and abuse chucked in the bin.