Equipping Students To Create The Future

“In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” Eric Hoffer

We are in a time of great change where what you know one moment can become irrelevant and obsolete the next. Unfortunately, the school system has stayed stuck with what it knew believing what they know is still the most vital thing that exists.

In the course of my work, I have had the opportunity to interact with high school teachers and university professors. A few years ago, I developed a concept in engineering that I called Value-Added Engineering. I googled it and it returned nothing about the concept. I was invited by the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, to discuss how we were going to partner to equip engineering students with the skills.

At the University, I was to meet with a selected team led by a professor. I was waiting for the team when the professor called me in to discuss. When I mentioned Value-Added Engineering, he told me he knew everything about it. I was trying to explain, but he will not listen and neither was he ready to ask questions.

When we stop learning, we stop growing, improving, and creating. This simply means we stop being human. What makes us humans is our ability to be curious, seek to understand and learn, change our beliefs about something and become better. If teachers are no longer curious and open to learning, how can they transfer that to their students?

When they resist anything that is contrary to what they believed, not much learning will happen. I guess as the school continues to resist new forms of knowledge, they gradually disintegrated to rote learning. Students are no longer measured by their ability to think and create, but by their ability to memorize things and give back to the teacher what he taught them. That is the newest form of intelligence and brilliance that the school celebrates.

The kind of school system we have today cannot produce people like Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, George Eastman, and many more. Why? It punishes anyone who engages in independent thinking but celebrates and rewards those who engage in groupthink.

People who think, are curious. Industry makes progress by learning, however, the school system has stayed behind because of its attitude towards learning especially anything that has to do with structure, system, culture, and leadership. Unlike the school system, the industry is always experimenting with new models and systems to improve and become better,

How can an institution that is supposed to foster learning, cultivate potential and ingenuity, and enhance humanity be one that is resistant to learning? It’s a paradox. The DNA of the present school system was set to produce employees for the industry. At that point industry only needed people who can be present not those who can use their minds. Thinking as of then was believed to be the sole preserve of few management people. You can only think when you get to a certain level in an organization.

All that has changed. Industries today look for people who will bring their whole (mind, heart, and body) to the workplace. They look for people who will be intellectually, passionately, purposefully, emotionally, and physically invested in what they do. Most companies are becoming learning, healing, purposeful, and growth organizations. Why can’t schools become one?

If the school system were open to learning, they would have noticed a change in the world and changed everything they do to align with the change. The rate of change outside the school system is more than the rate of change within the school system. The school system is about to self-destruct. We must save it and transform it into a human-centered school system: a humanistic school that treats every stakeholder as a human with dignity, respect, and honor.

That is what we are doing. Our model of a school system makes it a learning, healing, purposeful, and growth institution. The school system should lead the world when it comes to learning. It should be a place where self-esteem and self-worth are healed. It should be a place where purpose and potential are cultivated. It should be a place where students grow into the humans they are meant to be.

We believe that a school is an institution for human development not receiving a diploma or grades. We believe when we become humans, we will build a better world. We believe that when students learn new things, they will not only inherit the earth, they will create a new and better world.

These are the hypotheses that we want to experiment with. You can help us transform the school system. You can support us to experiment with a new model of school in the US, India, and Nigeria. You can do that by donating. Here is the link to make your donation. Share with others who can also donate. We need to bring the school system to the level of industry and society.