Education: A Revolution

To further address this issue of education, I invited my friend, Brent Sears, to guest blog for me. He brings up some very important points. Many people today are complaining about our current education system; the drain it is financially, the lack of quality, and the growing population of the educated and unemployed bracket.

What we are facing today is the onset of a radical revolution.

—————————————————————-

Welcome to the revolution!  That’s right, we are living through a revolution in the way we consume, produce, share, connect and find stuff.  And by stuff I mean Levi’s Action slacks size 54×32, or maybe a John Piper book.  How about the best video on education in the whole wide world! None of these things are related, but they are all super-accessible in less than 10 minutes of searching, which changes EVERYTHING.

Last week I had the distinction of being a guest lecturer at Syracuse University.  My students were mostly freshman and (someone was) paying over $50K+ per year for their “education.”  I decided to lecture on the history of education in the US, and why they were paying way too much money for mostly obsolete training.

Question: Do you know why schools have bells that ring and break up the day?

Answer: Because factories have whistles and people are supposed to move in unison at the same time.  It’s true.  When the current educational system was constructed it was to meet the needs of the industrial society in the US – factory workers, but not too many of them.  Overproduction is a problem for industrialists, so keep the labor force in school for as long as possible for more “training” to make sure the labor force doesn’t get too large. (18 is a silly age to begin adulthood – don’t get me started on 22.)

The Problem: How many students are training to work in a factory?

As the college students you know and see for yourself.

Question: Do you know what every school is constructed around?

Answer: Its library.

So build a school around a library that holds all the informational resources > hire teachers to give the information context > and bring the student to learn what they are unable to learn anywhere else.  This is the model that every physical school has run on for hundreds of years.

Problem: The Internet allows people access to the best minds in the world in under a minute. Truth be told, we are not usually looking for the best minds; just the person who can answer our current search term.  Great knowledge isn’t scare anymore or controllable.  Sorry textbook publishers…it was a good run while it lasted.   

—————————————————————-

Make sure you check out the video Brent mentioned above. It’s a must see…

Also, check out these helpful resources.

Khan Academy – Where one guy has revolutionized education by making it free and accessible through youtube.

Waiting for Superman – A documentary chronicling the downward spiral of the American education paradigm.