Contemporary education - a university speech (I did not choose the title)

Humanity at a crossroads

"We, humanity.. are at a crossroads. We have been here for some time now. We have faced, and still do face, an incredibly impactful and significant decision - How do we move forward with regards to ‘formally’ educating ourselves - the human race.

As the 19th century French poet, Victor Hugo, once said - “Teach the ignorant as much as you can; society is culpable in not providing a free education for all and it must answer for the night which it produces. If the soul is left in darkness sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.”

When faced with the opportunity to change our education system in the past, we have continuously made the same decision - to stay the same. But.. is it not necessary for everything to change, to evolve? Regardless of whether or not it is ‘necessary’ - is it not simply inevitable? Is that not how our world works, how nature operates? Did we, humanity, not get to where we are entirely BECAUSE we changed, and evolved? If this is the case, then why have we, humanity, DECIDED not to alter and adapt to our times something so essential to our growth as a species - the way we educate ourselves and our children?

For the past 400 years or so, we have taken a ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to our education. This has clearly worked - but only to a certain extent. Perhaps we did not have the means, the knowledge, or the resources to change our approach to education in the past. Today - this is no longer the case. We are living in the age of information, through the 4th industrial revolution. Rapidly advancing technology and our infinite access to information, thanks to the internet, is our key to unlocking the potential of our entire species. The best quality education in the world should not be ONLY for the elite. The best quality education in the world does not NEED to be ONLY for the elite.

To quote a source unknown - “Free education is abundant all over the Internet. It’s the desire to learn that’s scarce” 

If this is true - why are we, why have we been, wasting so much time, energy, and resources into forcing ‘education’ into the minds of those who do not possess the necessary desire to learn?

We, humanity, should not put 12 years worth of resources into the teaching of a limited number of limited subjects to every young person. Instead - we should put these resources towards teaching each and every human, regardless of age, the essential skills of reading and learning. I believe that if we prioritised this approach to teaching, and provided access to information that is freely available to everyone to use, in their own time, and at their own pace - we would see a far more educated human race as a whole, and a smaller, less significant divide between the ‘educated’ and the ‘uneducated’. 

Just because someone cannot afford to get a university-level qualification, they should not be excluded from a university-level education - and no one needs to be.

“What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul”, said 17th century English essayist - Joseph Addison.

I will conclude my case with a simple question - are all human souls not worthy of the same opportunity to be sculpted into a masterpiece?

Thank you."

Submitted April 11, 2021 at 04:56PM by nutshelledd https://ift.tt/3uFjUmE