Reimagining Education

A few years ago, when my youngest started kindergarten, I was told that he would graduate by 2030 and that, by then, he would be equipped for the “real world” and for all the jobs of the future. He is now 7 - and it is dawning on me that the chances of him attending college or even obtaining a “traditional” job are incredibly low. I now realize that, back then and still today, I do not even know what I am preparing him for, nor can I predict how he will develop from a cognitive and an emotional perspective – and crucially, that nobody else does either. 

Two hundred years ago, when the current education system was first envisioned, it was only the beginning of what is now known as the Industrial Revolution, and schools were but a means to accelerate the industrial process. Today’s education models are still based on 18th century thinking. However, just as it would be inefficient to centralize a factory line in the 21st century, how can we expect formal education, based on the socio-economic context and thinking of the 1800s, to equip the graduating class of 2030?

This begs the question: what is the purpose of school? It is understood to be the vehicle through which children develop their intellect. School is where knowledge is imparted, and students are equipped with the skills that allow them to think critically, constructively and independently. This is achieved in the physical classroom where a teacher stands in front of the students, shares knowledge in a unilateral fashion and tests the students’ understanding of the subject matter in the form of exams, quizzes or graded homework.

In its current implementation, education fails to achieve this purpose. Its role remains narrowly focused on what children learn, as opposed to how they learn. This is even more problematic when we recognize that the answer to “what should children learn?” can be found with a simple search on Google, yet seems a difficult discussion with any headmaster of a school. It is more important and useful for children to understand what questions to ask, and why. That being said, how do we teach a child to ask the right questions? How do we enable their innate curiosity and propensity to learn without hindering the creativity they so naturally exude? How do we leverage their specific interests to create a personalized and holistic learning experience that truly serves them? And is school really the best place to do that?

Solutions lie within the realm of personalized learning. In the age of rapid information turnover, feeding children with information and knowledge is a counterintuitive process. Educators would do better to teach children how to learn in the age of information obsolescence. This is where meaningful cognitive learning begins. Moreover, as children are increasingly online and tech-savvy, insights on their emotional and social behavior becomes readily and abundantly available. Enabling and facilitating their emotional education becomes a matter of leveraging the already-available insights into their specific learning capabilities and interests. The foundation of personalized learning already exists, yet the gaps have yet to be identified.

One thing is abundantly clear (and ironic): in an era of information, we are still highly misinformed about how to educate the generations of the future. Kids today are more diverse than ever, and their learning processes are radically different. Given where technology is, the time to rethink the ways we have traditionally approached children’s education becomes a fundamental and urgent exercise. EdTech has the potential to bring education back to its intended purpose and to reposition the child at the very center of the curriculum, through personalized and out-of-the-box learning experiences that enable them now and in the future.