I am not a very big fan of government regulated education but, I am also not saying that what is taught in schools shouldn't be learned, well some of it shouldn't be. However, everyone should have access to a decent education which is just not happening in the world.
Yes, I do understand that just about anything can be learned independently but, there are still some areas that require regulation and you want to be sure that there is a high level of training and the right training completed. Medicine and engineering come to mind.
One of my interest areas personally and professionally, is education even though I myself was/am a terrible student. Perhaps me not fitting well into the traditional school system is part of the reason I have an interest in making education more accessible by improving the content, especially the delivery method.
Learn to learn before learning to earn
One simple change would be for early years to be spent learning how to learn, discovering what works and what doesn't for an individual rather than focus on what to learn. A proficient learner is then able to stack information atop the learning infrastructure, much like a content platform can hold a diverse range without requiring significant changes to the platform itself.
But, lets suppose that learning how to learn is the norm, delivery of educational material becomes a key factor to create an equality of availability, something that a blockchain is perfect for considering the lack of censorship. Unfiltered, this can be quite useless but with the right search tools and interfaces, it is possible to tailor information accurately to the viewer.
Applied to education, it means that a student could have designed courses with verifiable information, filtered on relevance and confidence and grouped into fields of study at whatever level granularity required. It could even be used for the organisation of remote testing through various app types to ensure the est is performed by the right person.
An augmented classroom
Combine this possibility with advance in Virtual and Augmented reality technology (VR/AR) and it will in time be possible to have very high quality training delivered anywhere in the world with the lowest possible barriers to entry. I envisage at some point that a great deal of education will be performed on-the-fly over augmented interfaces that allow learning while doing or, overlays of lessons with a direct interaction with the environment.
This area is something I am quite excited about considering that my own learning for math was hampered by the teaching style that didn't connect the information to real world example. When one can not only see but experience math, the retention rate will skyrocket, as will the ability to apply it to diverse areas of interest. Add this to all lessons and school is not about memory, it is about living life with the tools to take personal agency and control.
Stuck in the middle with all
Education gets a bad rap, not because of what it is but more because of what it is not and what it is not is useful for individuals to take control of their learning based on their interests at the time. A classroom is a type of socialist idea based on an authority who knows what is best for the group on average, even if the individual results can swing wildly. By definition, it will crush some members of the group and raise others by design and chance and then runs the added oppressor that based in this, life position will be affected for better or worse.
Those that benefit from it think anyone can, those that don't think it is a waste of time at the best or get crushed by the system at the worst. I am in the latter section, someone who hasn't benefited greatly from what I learned however, I am also not completely crushed. I do not consider myself an idiot nor disinterested so, I wonder what would have resulted if given the tools to learn the things that interest me in a way that suits me.
Now, what happens when all children have access to fundamentally better real educational opportunities? Great things, we are not there yet. At the moment, masses of resources are spent to provide education in ways that barely affect the averages in result at all. I have mentioned before that the math skill when I finished high school hasn't changed much 20 years later, nor has the time it has taken to learn reduced. Considering that high school math hasn't changed significantly in the last 40 years, this is a terrible result based on resources sunk.
Breaking desks and taking names
Education suffers one of the greatest issues through a middleman problem in areas that no middleman need exist. Yes, there are some brilliant teachers out there but for the most part, no matter their lofty early intentions, most are tired, automatic and ineffectual.
Having great teachers shouldn't be a process of luck, it should be guaranteed and I think that this will be largely facilitated by AIs in combination with the AR/VR where the teacher becomes a personalized coach able to be sensitive to the individual student without having to pander to meeting averages. If an average person hires a personal fitness trainer, the goal isn't to stay society's average, it is to be above for at least currently, the average global fitness level is relatively poor.
But, society is a major driver of education and this is where blockchain technology can play a global role in taking the learning decisions out of the hands of an agenda'd authority and put it into the hands of learners with immediate requirements that education is able to assist. Decentralizing schools essentially means that everyone is able to be home schooled well without having to be completely reliant on the parent's abilities, even if the parent is willing.
However, the parent can also take an active role in this regard also (and likely should) as they are able to be supported in a multitude of ways that will help them support their child's development in ways that they alone would be unable to approach.
New models, new streams, new ideas
Of course, all of this decentralization empowers all kinds of opportunities for new models and business lines, revenue streams and opportunities for many interactions and discoveries that are impossible with the centralized approach. This includes access to quality information which in time, is going to be a massive driver of mainstreaming blockchain technologies as more and more are going to be looking for verified information as fakenews and FUD increase.
When this gets applied to information for education, it means that material can go through various testing and scientific peer review processes in order to ensure that the best possible is able to be accessed with a high rate of confidence. This doesn't necessarily exclude other information, but with an AI that trawls and compares at a deep level, a confidence rating could get applied. Right now, the algorithms aren't there for it, nor is the computing power but one day, both will be available.
And this is where I think the largest gains in decentralized education can be made as authority has convinced us that it is all about formal education and taught us that what they teach us is the best that can be learned. It is a manipulation that puts us in the position of grateful servant to an oppressive master and our parents send us willingly to join the rank and file.
Stepping beyond borders
This unlearning doesn't happen over night but, it is already happening, we are here doing it now. How many people have joined up here and while finding ways to earn, have come across information and people who have inspired a rethink about the fundamentals of society, the way it functions and, who it currently serves.
A healthy future for our children is not for them to be producers for a narrow band, it is about them becoming their fullest expression of themselves and having the chance to use it to do the best they can in their world for both themselves and the communities they will inhabit.
The insidious nature of centralized education is apparent in a common phrase they use to signal their virtues as they kill and maim for their own gain; we need to win hearts and minds. No assholes;
We need to FREE hearts and minds.
It is our job as a global community to build the tools and space required so that my child, your children and all children will have the opportunity to live and breathe freely as they explore just how good they can be. Education matters.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]