Future World - Education

I have always been a fan of Jules Verne, the science fiction writer.  He had a way of looking around at the world and seeing what was going to happen next; not right away, but sometime in the future.

I have decided to write periodic blogs about what I think will happen next; maybe not immediately "next" but soon.

In this blog, I will cover education.

Schools will still be held at school.  The reason for this is much like today - consolidation of resources and socialization.

There will be teachers and coaches. 

The teachers will be responsible for getting out the information that needs to be learned.  Let's take a look at math as a sample class.  There will be a universal set of lessons used across the country.  These lessons will all be digital.  Every student will come to class, put on their headphones and log-in to the math course.  If they get stuck, they can always click the "I am stuck" icon and get a series of helpful sub-routines.  Each student proceeds at his or her own pace.

The book they use is digital as well.  No more spending hundreds of millions of dollars on text books.  The teacher is there to handle outlier conditions.  If a student is having trouble that can't be overcome by the sub-routine, the teacher steps in.

Students receive rewards for progress.  Maybe icons that show up next to their name on a wall or a free movie download or time to pursue non-math online activities if they get ahead.  They can choose their reward.

I mentioned teachers and coaches.  The coach is an adult whose sole job is to encourage.  They teach nothing.  They know every student under their umbrella.  They encourage, praise and guide.  Sure, parents do this as well, but with less than accurate information and certainly not in real time.

Aside from the normal classes, there will be classes in self actualization.  Students are taught how to play and work with others.  They learn the value of relationships.  They learn to overcome internal obstacles and help others to do so as well.  They learn about finances, the arts and sports.

They learn to think for themselves and discover who they are.

A parent can log in at any time and see what is on their child's screen.  They can pop in as a small window and have a one-on-one conference with their child during the school day.

Part of every curriculum is community service.  The idea will be to teach the value of giving as well as the responsibility of having a role where others depend on you to do your part.

And there will be time to play.

What is the cost of all of this?

Probably a lot less than what we are paying now.  Why not have a universal math book that can be accessed online?  How many trees will that save?  How much energy is used to produce and deliver those books?  How much money is spent buying books that wear out after a year or two?  If every student had an Ipad, then no books would be needed.  It wouldn't take long to pay for such a device with the savings.

Why pay to have a teacher spout the same stuff over and over again, several times a day, year after year?  Record it once and use it forever.  Every school in the country would use the exact same presentation.  Fewer teachers means money for coaches.

The coaches will improve the quality of the education by real time encouragement.

I think we could do this tomorrow.

The amount of money spent on the bailout (which I reluctantly support) would buy 150 million Ipads.  This is more than enough.  Spend a billion making the videos of the classes and you are there.

There is one thing left to put in the mix - the will to do it.

I can see a politician saying, "I will support this if you give aid to the pig farmers in my state."

Maybe the way to overcome this is to minimize the government's role.  They provide the money to make the digital classes and books.  Individual states or communities could take on the rest.

So there you have it.  My best guess at the education of tomorrow.

What are your ideas?


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j