What’s Wrong With Education?
Sit at your desk, silent and solitary. Memorize this list of dates. Do hours of homework each night…or else! This is the educational model many of us — and our parents, and their parents — grew up with. But evidence has been mounting for years that there are better ways to educate our children — and ourselves — and it is becoming increasingly apparent that we are experiencing a paradigm shift when it comes to education, a shift that’s been turned into high-gear throughout this pandemic, and one that will continue long after it’s over. It is therefore vital that we evaluate where education is falling short, and what it will look like in a future landscape of technological innovation, demographic shifts, and a heightened focus on sustainably built environments.
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Traditional education systems have focused too much and for too long on standardization and test-based learning that prioritizes educating ‘the masses’ to go work as cogs in the industrialized machine. This model is changing though, and we are seeing a shift towards more individual student-centered learning that prioritizes real-world applications of knowledge, project-based learning, and an ‘anytime, anywhere’ approach that pushes education past the walls of the classroom and fosters self-discovery and creativity throughout a person’s life.
This student-centered approach is no-doubt bolstered by an ever-increasing array of digital technologies that are allowing primary, secondary, and higher-ed learners alike to personalize their educational experiences both inside and outside the classroom. Access to up-to-date information about a given topic within the classroom ensures that learning content stays fresh and students are more engaged. Learning management systems help teachers upload content for their students to access anytime, and digital student networks are making it easier than ever for students to collaborate and share information for group projects.
Data collection and AI are also proving to be invaluable assets for the future of education. Companies are now creating program chatbots that can provide students with information about campus life, areas of study, financial issues, and many other concerns that the average student may not be able to find otherwise. As a result, studies are surfacing an increase in student motivation and decrease in dropout rates on campuses that are employing this tech.
Of course, the pandemic has rapidly accelerated remote learning trends, and while in-person learning is certainly preferable in early education, statistics are starting to roll in which suggest that higher education could see a significant shift towards hybrid online/in-person classes moving forward. While digitalization can be a solution to those who are unable to attend their classes due to physical distance or body limitations, it excludes those who do not have the tools to attend online classes. We need to take into account that WiFi, a laptop, or a reliable electricity connection are not self-evident for many, both in our cities and more rural areas. It has historically been a driver in a feedback loop as old as education itself: poorer populations have less access to good education, yet it is a good education that can lift poor populations out of poverty. It is vital that when we talk about the future of education — with all its promise and innovative technological and social possibilities — we keep equal distribution and equal opportunity in the front of our minds. Otherwise the chasm between the haves and the have-nots will continue to widen.
We will also need to consider how education will evolve to account for increasing lifespans and a world population where 17% of people will be 65 or older in 2050, compared to 8,5% today. Continuing education in this context will need to expand, and educational spaces must be designed to take into account the fact that there will be a wide range of ages and backgrounds using them.
Educational spaces like schools and campuses thus need to be rethought to account for both increasing digitization and the nuance that comes with it, a growing variety of students in terms of background and age, and pushing towards more sustainably built environments in a future of strained resources. The architecture and layout of a campus will involve more hybrid areas rather than departmentally separate spaces. In this sense, rather than a set of buildings, the future campus has the possibility of looking like a cluster of experiences, adjusting to all kinds of different needs and abilities.
So while some changes in our educational systems, behaviours and traditions are already happening, other issues need to be actively addressed in order to create sustainable and inclusive learning environments in the future, empowering students — young and old — to pursue their dreams. Education can no longer be based on a 19th century model, but needs to be stimulating the soul and both raise and answer questions. After all, “the functioning of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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During What’s Wrong With Education (www/Education), an online diagnostic panel discussion and Q&A which also recorded as part of What’s Wrong With: The Podcast, we discussed the current and future needs of our educational systems to understand the underlying reasons of the challenges we face and discussed potential solutions, and to cultivate a space where collaboration catalyzes positive change and guides us in the right direction.
Listen to the conversation here: https://www.sour.studio/podcast/whats-wrong-with-education
PANELISTS
- Bryan Alexander Futurist, Researcher, Writer, Speaker, Consultant, and Teacher
- Maggie Grout, Founder & CEO Thinking Huts
- Ryan Derby-Talbot, Mathematician, Educator, and Dean at Deep Springs College
- Lisa Love, Co-Founder and CMO Tanoshi
