The pace of change

I believe in and support the public education system, but systems,
particularly large scale ones with set objectives, scare me.

Whilst an educational 'system' solved a problem for Industrial age
Britain, education per se has existed for as long as we have functioned
as homo sapiens sapiens - and certainly before it was regulated,
controlled and given hard limits (our 'curriculum'). Education was
local, adaptable, fluid and life-defining for the hunter-gatherers. It
truly meshed with culture and raw need. Now I see our rate of innovation
- both social and technological - advancing so fast that the education
system that we have - both private and public - is unable to keep up.
It's trying to change, to break out of its box, but it's hemmed in on
all sides.

We aren't sure what the new goals of education are, or should be -
literacy, numeracy, yes, sure. A vocation? Probably. Critical thinking?
Hmmm. Defence against the Dark Arts? Maybe! But we create new
technologies and new jobs as quickly as we shed old ones. The sand
shifts as the newly educated spill into the streets. So do we teach
basic, generic skills and hope for the best, or do we instead accept
technology as an adjunct to our lives and build that in as a dynamic force?

It's late, I'm still staring at a computer screen. My 6 year old asked
me what was my favourite DVD when I was a child. Well when I was 6 we
had only just got a TV, try to get your head around that, I tell her.
How do you explain this ever-increasing pace? How do we educate our
young to make the most of fluidity and change, of uncertainty yet
opportunity? Phew. Better stop, I'm ranting again.

Cheers

Rob