Humanity’s Future: Redefining Structure of Education

“The quickest path to answering the seemingly unanswerable question is to ask that person who knows the least about the subject of the question.”
“Out of the mouth of ignorance can flow the most incredible and insightful question(s) that may just lead to finding their answer.”

Education over the centuries is structured and inhibits the success of the individual, unstructured thinking mind. The best analogy for today’s educational system is the cookie-cutter mold. The better you are in duplicating the outline of the mold the more likely you are to be successful in societal terms but in my opinion, at the expense of humanity’s future.

Over the period of my life it has been my personal and informed experience that those amongst us who are considered radical, non-conforming and at times irrational are often ridiculed, admonished and often banished or forced to escape the structured educational system. The few of these exceptional minds that have the will and self-confidence to do so often become leaders of innovation in the sciences, technology, commerce and industry at large.
Like the young, naive child incessantly asking: `Mommy why do……?’ .

Prodding, unstructured questions that induces the respondent to think, to apply known knowledge in formulating a valid response however, when known knowledge is inadequate to effectively answer a naïve question, it induces the need to explore the subject further. This has the potential for vibrant, innovative thinking that can produce new and broader knowledge and understanding.

`build the ability to be non-linear thinkers comfortable with processes that are less structured to be able to adapt to constantly transforming ideas and situations.. ` (On Searching for New Genes: A 21st Century DNA for Higher Education by Rick Smyre http://www.newhorizons.org/future/smyre4.htm)

Though as a population the world’s people have been remarkably successful in creative innovation as is evident by the quality of many aspects of life; the future will pose increasing, otherwise unknown situations making even greater demands on the creativity of human intellect and psyche then at any time in the past. Ironically, at the same time as this need for quality education is apparent, the serious financial and economic hardship of this first and possibly second decade of this century being suffered throughout the developed and developing world, advancement in education as a resource is and will likely continue to suffer.

How will this conflict of priorities manifest in future decades? Will humanity look to artificial intelligence to occupy the shortfall in its own innovative ability? Does this situation suggest a transitional point in the history of human development? Will we see artificial intelligence at the forefront of future human advancement: humanity acquiesces its dominant position to the power of the supercomputer(s)?

These nave pondering questions hopefully will induce those amongst us who are inadequate to provide viable answers, to look deeper into the concern to an ultimate, quality resolve.