Are we preparing our students for tomorrow’s world?

By Francis Peter, SJ

The question that all educators should ask is: Are we equipping our students with what they need to play a meaningful role in tomorrow’s world? Our present education leaves unaddressed significant gaps for critical leadership roles of tomorrow. Today’s knowledge economy relies on information and knowledge in creating jobs and fostering growth whereas our education system, modelled on labour economy, is fixated on land, labour and capital model as factors of production.

The gap between what our world needs and what our schools and colleges deliver needs our urgent attention. Our effort at bridging this gap begins with a radical shift in our perception of learners and on what gets them to learn.

Learning is not the prerogative of an elite few! Social status, economic affluence, locational advantage, etc. are no prerequisites or necessary conditions for learning to happen. You do not need to be highly intelligent, especially talented or “good at languages” to learn a foreign language. Every normal human being is prewired to learn, all that we need to trigger learning is a conducive atmosphere and an internal compulsion to learn. If we are reminded, given motivation and exposure, it is impossible for one not to learn a foreign language. A compelling attraction to a topic made comprehensible with sufficient opportunity to interact in the process of understanding issues and solving problems pertaining to the topic gets a learner to learn both the content as well as the medium. What is encouraging is that these opportunities are not impossible to introduce in our schools and colleges.

The gap between what our world needs and what our schools and colleges deliver needs our urgent attention. Our effort at bridging this gap begins with a radical shift in our perception of learners and on what gets them to learn.

In a way, learning, like seeing, is involuntary. Nobody needs to teach another normal human being to see. All you need to do is to open your eyes and everything before you becomes visible. One only needs to like what one sees, focus on what one wants to acquire and judiciously omit all other distracting details. Some assistance from an expert caregiver or peers would be an added advantage to help notice what is critical but not obvious in what is presented. When the content is seen as relevant, appealing, achievable, and rewarding, learning is triggered.

However, the fact is not all are interested in acquiring everything presented to them. Despite firm resolutions and repeated exhortations, some seem to make no progress. Why they abandon their pursuit halfway and give up can be quite revealing.

Call to mind any three resolutions you had made in the last six months, things you required, skills or information you wanted to acquire. Take, for example, your desire to get a 4-wheeler driving licence, master a computer package/coding language, master a new recipe, learn a foreign language like Japanese/ Spanish, try and slim down, or publish an article in Scopus/UGC journals. Now, you might have achieved some and abandoned others halfway. Analysing factors bearing upon your outcome, you would agree that predominantly we give up halfway because we felt the task undertaken was beyond/below our capacity, has no immediate use/relevance, or was not exciting enough. And whatever you felt achievable -even if mildly challenging – and rewarding, you pursued.

That is also true of learners. When their passion matures into persistence and determination their effort becomes a pleasure. They begin to realise what they are looking for is also looking out for them. Think of the learners who struggle in traditional classes to stay focussed in the classroom, to pass an exam. Yet these kids easily master intricate computer games, replete with so much more complex rules than those that govern solving mathematical problems or complex language construction.

In a way, learning, like seeing, is involuntary. Nobody needs to teach another normal human being to see. All you need to do is to open your eyes and everything before you becomes visible.

They demonstrate astounding mastery of complex concepts involving multiple interconnected aspects, operating under specific conditions. Playing the game creates a compulsive need in them to learn to win. So, they determine the most successful route, anticipate the probable moves of competitors, develop strategies to counter them and look out for and take advantage of favourable opportunities. They succeed because the game creates a compulsive need in them to learn and enjoy what they do. When success is round the corner, the task becomes so engaging that they do not mind the burdens and hurdles along the way.

A classroom can also succeed if it can replicate a situation like this. When what is taught is made relevant, challenging, rewarding, interesting, and interactive, it is likely to become compulsive, engaging, and effective. With an added provision of an expert who is ready to guide them, to track their progress, to offer non-threatening feedback about their progress the students will march at a pace not witnessed before. Learning would turn into a celebration, transforming the learners’ current ‘have to learn’ attitude to a welcome ‘want to learn’ attitude. They will take the initiative in making learning yield desired and assured results.

Courtesy: Jivan

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