Is School Still Relevant?

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The above question may sound like one which has an obvious answer but take a moment to consider the reason for your own education or those that you are responsible for their education. (Check out my post on Why do we go to school?)

Speaking for myself, I believe my maternal grandparents bought into the philosophy that education was going to make me into a responsible man. One who is gainfully 'employed' and living a good life as result. The measure of success in these aspirations was going to be based on the qualifications that I am able to gain through my education. This point of view is quite similar to what most parents aim for their children and what their children in turn come to believe to be the reward for their work in school.

The view of my grandparents held true for a time in history - like the time that they were growing up in colonial Gold Coast (now Ghana). At the time, not many people around the world had had formal education. Gaining any level of formal education therefore placed the recipients in an exclusive club of employable citizens. A key purpose of formal education was to serve as a means for selection, to set the perking order in society. Going to school therefore guaranteed the a person an employment at the end of their education

Over time however, the number people acquiring formal education qualifications have increased and the natural effect of demand and supply has set in. It is very common to find a high percentage of unemployed or underemployed graduates in any country. The reason for this situation is simple - jobs openings are finite. Merely educating citizens to possess qualifications for jobs does not mean that the job will be available. The result is that while in the past a person with a bachelor's degree can expect to be employed in a job that will support a very good standard of living, the same qualification does not have the same value today. University degrees are now required for jobs which in the past required no academic qualification at all.

While job availability is finite, work opportunities are not. By work, I am referring to the meaning that you have when you say: I have some work to do in my garden. Work means identifying a problem or a need and deciding to take actions that makes things better. Our early ancestors survived against all odds because they were able to identify and do the work that needs to be done. When formal education (which is a recent invention) was instituted, it was aimed at providing the needed civil servants for governments or workforce for the industries. That was was the work which was needed then in our world. The work of creating a way to manage societies or producing things in greater quantities, but the work for our world today is different. The challenges for our time and the future is different. Operating our education system on the old principles (work) will therefore lead to failure because the jobs will be available.

We still have a lot of work that need to be done in our world but we are not educating citizens who will be capable of taking on the challenges of our time. We are still educating citizens who need to be employed. This must must change! We want to educate citizens who see opportunities for them to add value to and in any situation. The problems that are associated with unemployment are already evident but in a few more years we will be dealing with a global challenge which may affect societies in a big way. It doesn't take a genius to predict what will happen when you have a large portion of our society just idling about and feeling negative about themselves. The difference between those employed and those who are not may become a question of luck, nepotism, corruption and even coercion. We can educate ourselves out of this situation.

Instead of aiming for certificates, our vision must be to create a society of doers - citizens who believe in themselves that they can provide solutions to any challenge. This means that schools must focus more on the mindset and attitudes of pupils. Schools must seize any and every opportunity to teach pupils about how to make effective decisions out of many options. Let me give you an example. In my classroom, pupils are allowed to sit anywhere they want and they do not need to ask permission to go out of class. My aim is to teach the pupils about choices and decision making. My pupils know that if they continue to make the right choices, they will continue to enjoy their liberties but if they abuse it then they bear the consequences. It has has been extremely successful so far. This may sound like a radical point of view but it is the only way. With the development of robots and artificial intelligence, we must begin to think of educating ourselves to do the things that robots cannot do. If we fail to do this, then it may be difficult to dominate our world like our ancestors did.

Governments must work with schools to design curriculums that targets the development of each pupil's innate abilities. Schools must aim to adequately equip each pupil with the mindset and habits that they need to succeed in the world. Self belief is not a natural talent - it is a function a person's experiences and the opportunities that they have had to put their experiences into practise. For citizens of any country to be problem solvers, they must be equipped, through the system of education with the tool - skills, habits, knowledge and resources - to take on the abundance of work that avails in every society.

Everyone of us can be a part of the change that we need. We cannot wait for our politicians to do this because most of them are driven by popular opinion which may not always be the correct one.

Read Learning Naturally by Michael Ankrah to see how you can be a part of the Movement for Change in the way we learn.

Leave your thoughts below to move the debate forward.