#ed2.0

There is this war that we are fighting half-assed and I think it is time we fully commit. We have a war on drugs and a war on terror but education is without a war. It’s actually a war on the “quality of education” or the fact that we cannot seem to provide quality education to everyone. A better educated population would probably lead to a solution of a number of other issues we have in this society just by default and a handful of others by extension. Big issues, not just small ones.

Here is where the draft comes into play. Most instruction we should receive should be from actual professionals in the field. Much like jury duty, every now and then, we all get called in to serve. The better you are at your job dictates what level you would teach. You would only have to teach 2 times a day and 3 days a week for a month. Maybe you can work on a lab session too, if it is appropriate. We would have some type of a TA on staff to help with presentations, ideas or labs.  You would need to provide a number of office hours. You could work on your actual work all the other time you are serving. We capture your lectures so that other’s outside your area can benefits from your experience and wisdom.

Much like jury duty you are excused from work and you get compensated fairly. If it turns out you are awesome at it, we would compensate you very well and you could have an open invite to teach when you like. You could get drafted to serve anywhere within a specific radius of your home. You can get out of it, but only after you reschedule.

We should transition kids from grammar school into this type of instruction around high school age. At the same time we make these kids intern in a series of professions of their choice. How many? As many as they can squeeze into a 7-8 year period. This is how long they “should” be in high school and college anyway. Then they should do another 2 years with a short list of things they have already worked at and enjoyed. After all this, they pick and interview. If they get this far and they cannot get anything they like then… [right now I do not have a good answer for this].

Spring Break? Christmas Break? Summer breaks? We should get rid of that too. If they want to get a break from the 9-5 life they can go exploring with actual explorers. Fishing with fisherman and swimming with oceanographer’s sounds like a lot of fun. They want to go for a drive up the coast? Sure, just give them a semi-truck to drive up from the docks. Kids should go on real life adventures not drinking binges. 

I am not saying we need to work anyone to the bone. They can keep some holidays and a number personal days. I am simply advocating that we not coddle the young so much.

I am making in-class instruction part of this when there is such a big push in the opposite direction because personal interaction is so awesome. Why do we want to get rid of it so desperately? Yes, it does not “scale” but it does make an impact. It’s an impact I have felt from both sides so I cannot just write it off.

As a student I have never enjoyed my education more than when I was living it. There was nothing more convincing that I was doing something wrong than when I was living it. As an “instructor” seeing someone actually “get” what I was attempting to teach was always rewarding.

I say we should let this Education 2.0 buzz be about how technology has afforded us the ability to do wondrous things with work and at work, while were doing great and inspiring things with each other and with technology but not through it.