Back in the ol’ days, when I was a boy, I was told to go to school, learn what the teachers taught, and study hard. We’d stuff our brains with facts and figures, memorize number sequences and formulas, and endlessly practice tenses and grammar rules. On the other hand, we also learned many useful skills such as reading, writing and basic arithmetic, but there was this heavy focus on knowledge. Furthermore, every child was treated equally and taught the same, even do each one had individual interessents and different levels of skills and knowledge. a As I learned later, this method for educating children was essentially an enhanced version of a century-old school system, originally developed to produce obedient factory workers; the so-called Prussian Education System.
How does it look today — another quarter centuer later? It doesn’t seem much different. Perhaps the system got slightly revised again here and there, but in the end it is still the same old foundation.
But is this kind of general and impersonal teaching really still the appropriate teaching method for educating children? Especially considering all the technological advances in the recent years, after all we’ve already entered the Digital Revolution. And more importantly, is this kind of teaching preparing the youngest generation for the future? Education is fundamental for the kids to grow up, and get prepared for the life that lies ahead of them; a future that is yet unknown…
What does the future hold?
It was Jack Ma — founder of Alibaba and Chinese e-commerce tycoon — who inspired me to write this essay. In a speech he explained how he wanted his son not to dedicate his childhood to studying, but rather leave room for developing personal interests and unique skills. For Chinese circumstances, where academic performance is everything and mutual competition is peaking, this is an extremely visionary statement.
Ma further explained that in the future, many things will be done by machines and robots; calculations, translations, software development and much more — faster and better that humans ever could. Right now, we are only experiencing the beginning of the digital revolution.
With that in mind, merely being knowledgeable won’t be sufficient to make a living in the future and being able to contribute to the society. All knowledge can be provided by machines… Surely knowledge is still useful, but as with anything that is available abundantly, demand decreases, and it’s value with it.
Nowadays, many adult corporate employees are worried to lose their jobs in the near future; either to better educated or cheaper adolescents, or to machines. Factory workers are especially affected by the latter, whereas office employees are more concerned about the former. But before too long, many office jobs will also be replaceable by artificial intelligence.
Educating children for the future
One thing that machines will never be able to provide, are creative and expressive services — perhaps not never, but at least not in the foreseeable future. Art, dance, music, literature, research, sports and so much more. All those kinds of things that you’d only learn on the borderline at public schools.
Children are naturally creative and curious to explore. Sacrificing their free time and making them become the best student at their class, seems no longer adequate — perhaps it never was. On the other hand, if children are given the opportunity to develop their interests and discover their passions, they will thrive and might change the world forever.