Each day we have numerous articles on
what is wrong with the Education System, and I attach a link to an article
which is the most common analysis of what is wrong, namely that “Children
must be taught how to think, NOT what to think”
Frankly this has been the broken record
for 70 years since the Kannangara Education reforms, making education
accessible to all. We simply have NOT corrected the mistake we made then, by
not teaching the teachers well enough to develop a person suitable to live in
the environment of the day.
Education therefore is not a fixed
format, like arithmetic, it is fluid, and needs to adapt to the ever changing
world. We HAVE NOT adapted, and so are still in at best the 20th
Century, where the 21st Century has long surpassed what education
means in a highly sophisticated, technological age, with internet, where ALL
our youth are adept at using Social Media, and are NOT EDUCATED to use it to
their advantage, let alone understand the revolution that they have been
blessed with.
So I propose to redefine what EDUCATION
REALLY MEANS. It is simply a means of arming the person with the tools
necessary to survive in the environment of the day (present) and prepare him or
herself to foresee the future, and make plans to adapt to the ever changing
landscape, so that they can function in that TIME AND PLACE!(FLEXIBILIY)
I meet 18 year olds on a daily basis
coming to see me, with very sophisticated smart phones with short battery lives
though, where I only have an old Nokia with ALL lettering rubbed off on its
keyboard, but whose battery life still lasts longer than the Apple I phone 6
(hope that the I phone 7 will at least be able to match this 2010 Nokia Model!)
That is why I can adapt to live without electricity in 2016!
They want a job, but they cannot give me
a resume with even their phone number and email address on it, for immediate
contact! Today, the Resume (CV) must have both, otherwise I will assume the
person is NOT educated, even though the CV has a long list of Computer
Qualifications. My challenge then is that you are NOT educated, as you don’t
know how to get a job, as you have NOT been taught how to think. If you were
taught how, you will realize that whoever you give your CV to, MUST be able to
contact you for an interview ASAP. So answer any call!
If I cannot get through on a first ring,
I may not call you again, as I will call the next person on my list for
interviews and NOT try to get back to you. If I email you, I expect a reply
within minutes, or at least by next morning at the latest, whether you are
still interested OR not! (If interested you must say you can come at a moment’s
notice to be interviewed, to convince me that you are the right person for the
job)
So this is what education means. This is
what people lack, and this is what needs to be communicated effectively. “To
repeat then, Education means your ability to know what you want, know how to
get it, and how to communicate effectively to get what you want.”
People mature at different ages, due to
the economic environment and surroundings they live in, and so it is NOT at a
particular age that one has reached one’s level of perceived EDUCATED STATUS. I
would like to however strive to give the tools needed BY THE STATE so that a
boy or girl at age 16 is sufficiently well informed to make this lifestyle
choice.
I strongly believe that it is at this
age that “FREE STOPS”, and then it is either full or partial scholarships for
the gifted, talented, economically deprived or differentlyabled, and payment
for any further knowledge gathering, be it by way of loan, parental
contribution, or work study program.
The State’s obligation to you is then
quite clear. It is to “Give you the tools of empowerment to make lifestyle choices, from
which you fashion your future.”
All your expectations and demands from
the State as a right STOPS RIGHT THERE. If the state so chooses, it can in the
Country’s interest offer incentives, which you may take. One such is that if
you commit to work in a rural area, clearly defined for a period of 10 years,
your Medical Education will be paid for by way of scholarship, the continuance
of which depends on your performance at each year’s exams to get to the next
level. It is the Country that decides, to prioritize and incentivize depending
on the policy that the Country wishes to adopt, NOT YOU.
If my formula is
universally adopted, we can in time, eliminate unemployment, reduce job
vacancies dramatically, ensure that our youth are in employment in a field of
their choice, and the Country can achieve its Policy goals of development in
Industries deemed appropriate to them in their present level of development and
resource allocation, and optimization for the benefit of all the Countrymen.
This is the only HOLISTIC way to look at Education. It can be adopted without delay.
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