Opening up education

There may not be a definitive answer to the question of, ‘What is Education?’ However, we can start thinking about the purpose of education. Is it to educate youth to be responsible citizens? Is it to develop individuals, as well as society, in order to ensure a society’s economic success? Or is the purpose of education to simply focus on developing individual talents and intelligence? Perhaps, is it the balance of all three that defines education? While our answers may differ, we can perhaps agree that education is a basic human right. 

How should education be structured to meet the needs of students in this 21st century world? How do we now define “School”, “Teacher” “Learner” and "Curriculum"?

Schools in the 21st century will be laced with a project-based curriculum for life aimed at engaging students in addressing real-world problems, issues important to humanity, and questions that matter.

This is a dramatic departure from the factory-model education of the past. It is abandonment, finally, of textbook-driven, teacher-centered, paper and pencil schooling. It means a new way of understanding the concept of “knowledge”, a new definition of the “educated person”. A new way of designing and delivering the curriculum is required.

We offer the following new definitions for “School”, “Teacher” and “Learner” appropriate for the 21st century:

Schools will go from ‘buildings’ to 'nerve centers', with walls that are porous and transparent, connecting teachers, students and the community to the wealth of knowledge that exists in the world.”

Imagine a school in which the students – all of them – are so excited about school that they can hardly wait to get there. Imagine having little or no “discipline problems” because the students are so engaged in their studies that those problems disappear. Imagine having parents calling, sending notes, or coming up to the school to tell you about the dramatic changes they are witnessing in their children: newly found enthusiasm and excitement for school, a desire to work on projects, research and write after school and on weekends. Imagine your students making nearly exponential growth in their basic skills of reading, writing, speaking, listening, researching, scientific explorations, math, multimedia skills and more!

According to a survey, the greatest barrier to global education in countries is the fact that it is not an acknowledged curriculum area. A few indicated that any global perspectives which are included in the curriculum must fit into existing courses such as history, geography, social studies, literature, foreign language, the arts, and so forth. Some others felt that because their educational systems were examination driven, it is difficult for teachers to alter the day-to-day curriculum to include global perspectives because that took time away from teaching topics and skills that would be tested. A couple of the answers pointed out that schools were reluctant to add a new curriculum area because community members were used to what is currently there and might be uncomfortable with something new. In a slightly different vein, a few responses suggested that the curricula in their countries overwhelmingly had a western orientation that, at least partially, precluded a more global one.
Therefore, it is of utmost importance to provide the community a place for people to interact, socialize, and unify their societies. And this, indeed is only possible if we try to create a flat classroom, and globalize the field of education !