Survival__ Structuring Prosperity for Yourself and the Nation - Charles George Smith [207]
The key task of students is to "learn how to learn." The current educational paradigm is a variation on the "factory" model of production: thousands of "units" (students) are assembled and "processed" (injected with "information") in a large central facility, tested and graded for quality, and then wrapped and "shipped" for use in other factories.
Rather than this essentially passive model of "information injection" and "quality testing" of the injection process's success, a collaborative, project-based model is much more aligned with both the actual work-worlds of high-skill R&D, enterprise, innovation and creation of value, all of which are essentially collaborative projects which a specific purpose that require constant learning.
The goal should not be to prepare students to fill static jobs which no longer exist but to create their own hybrid job--probably not a steady-state "career" of performing the same tasks for 30 years but a hybrid assembly of projects, collaborations, grunt work, learning, volunteering, trading, "fun" work, etc.
3. Teach reciprocity and creation of value/surplus capital. Collaboration requires not just the social skills of working with others but an understanding of reciprocity and exchange. This is ultimately on the opposite end of the spectrum from authority structures. For how this works on the large-scale enterprise level, please read Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace.
Since schools are enterprises, too, then the collaboration, shared responsibility and focus on innovation and cost control described in this book will be worth studying.
4. Windfall exploitation can be a positive attribute. Students who learn that opportunities for exploiting a "windfall"--an unfilled need or undervalued resource--abound will be much better prepared for full-spectrum prosperity than those indoctrinated with a static "just give me a job" perspective.
Windfall exploitation, after all, is built into our genetic heritage as a trait with large selective advantages. It behooves us to teach the difference between looting (exploitation at the expense of others) and the filling of unmet needs/opportunities for gain/surplus.
We can either invest capital or labor or some of both, but some investment must be made to generate value and earn a surplus. The necessity of enterprise can be taught.
5. Provide students with opportunities for experiential capital. By that I mean the inner capital which is built from experience as opposed to formal learning. In essence this means creating a rich network of apprenticeship and internship options which span all productive fields from lab research to stone masonry to preparing cuisine to childcare.
Much of what we now consider formal education can be moved to the Web and Web-based collaborations and projects.
Universities could open up more informal (unpaid) internships for high school and intermediate school students who have shown an aptitude for scholarship or research. Small businesses and even sole proprietors could offer more short apprenticeships. Without work experience in a range of fields, how can students assess their own aptitudes and interests?
If work is to become more hybrid in nature, then a variety of collaborative learning experiences in a variety of fields may be the best training possible for those who do not have the aptitude or interest to pursue highly technical graduate-level careers.
To help illustrate more practical, future-oriented models of education, I offer the following summary from educator/teacher Zeus Yiamouyiannis, Ph.D.:
The first thing to understand is that the Greek and Latin roots of education mean literally "to lead out." This notion of education has a long and noble history quite compatible with what we would legitimately