Future of Education [In the Age of Information and Disruption]

In the age of information and disruption, adults are expected to learn new skills and to change careers multiple times. While the jobs of yesterday are automated away, the jobs of tomorrow haven’t even been invented.

Traditional educational systems cannot help. These linear systems are marked by memorization, regurgitation, and conformity. Even the physical classroom is constrained by rectilinear walls, oppressing young minds and bodies. These experiences do not prepare children for the challenges the future holds.

Fun fact: many school architects are also prison architects.

The Future of Educational Institutions

We saw progress in the1900’s with new systems like Montessori or Waldorf schooling, which shaped famous CEOs like Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Jeff Bezos. These were the cutting edge systems of their time.

Our question: what do children of tomorrow need today to be successful, flourishing adults? Children must grow up wanting to continue learning, evolving, and expanding their minds and opportunities. They won’t have a choice.

Imagine being autonomous and self-directed from childhood. Imagine being capable of becoming who you want to be and having the confidence to change to whatever your heart desires.

Five Tools to Revolutionize Educational Systems

Sensory Experiences and Unstructured Play

Play and the resulting sensory experiences are paramount to young, developing minds. Through play, children can freely explore their environment, challenge assumptions, and discover anew. By overlapping tactile, visual, olfactory, and other senses during play we can stimulate learning on whole new levels. Play is the gateway to deeper cognitive development. So, harness that ball of energy in every child and let them learn through unstructured play!

Sustainable Living

Children are the worst polluters and they don’t even know. For example, when you count diapers and clothing for growing children, it’s a staggering level of pollution. So, let’s invite them to be part of the solution.

Through a child’s eyes, anything can be accomplished. Their solutions tend to be obvious and yet somehow overlooked. But it’s these unfiltered eyes that challenge societal norms. So, let’s give children the agency to do something good like tackling the environment. They have the energy, the fearlessness, and it’s their future hanging in the balance. We see opportunities to explore recycling, composting, chemistry, new energy sources, and even systems-level thinking.

Emotional Intelligence and Self-Awareness

Teach children to be self-aware and to express their feelings through proportional actions. Teaching kids to understand the implications of their actions and take ownership is an important skill for work as well as life. This will help communication, conflict resolution, and empathy towards others. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all receive criticism as constructive? How about the elimination of passive aggressive behavior? If you think adults around you aren’t very emotionally intelligent, it’s because they weren’t given the tools as children. To build healthy adults of tomorrow, we need to build a strong foundation early on.

Space to Live and Play

What makes a child engaged and activated at school? It’s definitely not sitting at a desk. Perhaps a workshop with robotics or woodworking? A curated library they can arrange themselves? Let them build movable walls and tables. This creates ownership. It encourages children to actively participate in their own roadmap to success.

Academia and political institutions fail to serve children because they standardize based on the age group. Every child has a unique developmental pace and learning style. We call this neurodiversity. Catering to each child on an individual level is necessary; that’s how we’ll eliminate the idea of giving up on a child. If we give kids a way to blossom in their own way, they repay society for the rest of their lives.

Connecting Beyond School

What if kids could connect with children from all over the world, who speak different languages and live in different cultures? What if we could connect off-world? We have the digital tools to virtually connect with these diverse communities, no matter where they are. Talking about learning different perspectives, what about the working world. Let’s connect children with adults and careers. What if they could learn the realities of interesting careers? We don’t see the future as a one-way street. We actually envision a world where adults learn from children! Adults can reinvigorate their curiosity, creativity, and see the future through the eyes of those who will be living it.

These are just a few of the opportunities we see in the Future of Education. Look beyond memorization, shiny school names, and punishment. Craft an environment that caters to children’s best assets — hands-on curiosity, creativity, emotional intelligence and the ability to adapt to anything life throws at them.

If you’re interested in solving systems-level problems like education and more, then reach out to us at info@nonfiction.design or visit our website Nonfiction.design. We’d love to start the discussion. Be sure to check out the rest of our Future Future series.