Education Beyond Boundaries

It was a usual weekday, bright and sunny, here in California. The usual busy-ness, scrambling between home, work, kids and more work. As I drove from the foundation office to pick up my son from his school, I noticed, as I usually do, the American flag flying high in front of the Veteran’s Hospital. Flags. They embody so much. And have a way of evoking a lot of feeling; of pride and inspiration. On this particular day, my son was very excited, and held a drawing in his hand. He said that he had been one of the kids selected to help hoist the flag in front of his school, and he was thrilled and proud of having participated in this tradition. The drawing in his hand was that of a flag. It did not look familiar to me so I asked him what country it was from. He said all the countries already had a flag so he made a new one, one for all students and what they learn in school. A flag for education! I was stumped. Can there really be a flag that embodies something as critical but abstract as education? Would it be regional? National or universal? Humanity as a whole progresses not in regions, cities, countries or other defined spaces, but we progress as a whole species. So our systems of education, that help drive the future of humanity cannot possibly be driven by boundaries or nationalities.

There are disparities in access to, and the kind of, education across the globe. Basic education like reading and writing continues to elude many children in some developing countries. And in the west, we increasingly hear about how our education system is not preparing the students for the future; that technological advances and automation threaten to displace or change the nature of jobs. But the right education could be the great equalizer that can prepare future generations to thrive in a world driven by technology. This of course is a big area of interest for me personally, and in my work through Infosys Foundation USA, where we focus on supporting students acquire the skills that will help them thrive in the world of our future. Computer Science is critical to this, as critical as reading, writing and arithmetic.

Last weekend, we witnessed what could be a historic moment for the students and the future of this country. The White House announced a multi-billion dollar plan to give all students across the United States the chance to learn Computer Science in school. The President’s Computer Science For All initiative seeks to level the playing field by giving all children an opportunity to acquire the skills that will help prepare them for the jobs of the future. What stood out was the public-private partnerships that will attempt to bring scale to computer science education. Private organizations are not only big job creators but also collectively have a good pulse of the present and the future. It makes perfect sense for them to be concerned about and be involved in the education of the next generation. Hopefully many more cash-rich private organizations will join the government’s sincere intent to make this mission successful.

Many countries in the world are already in the process of making Computer Science mandatory for their students. And others that take cues from developed economies like the United States will soon follow their lead. And why not? After all, it is the responsibility of every country and indeed every individual to prepare the next generation to survive and thrive. This responsibility transcends boundaries, of region, nation, religion, race, or income. To evolve and flourish as a species, every individual must be empowered to participate in collectively shaping our world and creating our future. So in that sense perhaps, education, the great enabler, is the glue that binds us all beyond boundaries.

I hope this CS education initiative sparks off a new wave of innovation. The progress of humanity as a whole comes from such innovations and the big changes that follow. And many of these big changes and ideas will come from unknown people living in some remote part of the world. We all may know what Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, or Galileo did and the change their work brought to humanity, but few of us know what country or region they were from. When our students succeed, it is the colloquial flag of education that flies high in a common sky without boundaries.