On public education

The education system is indubitably broken in America. And maybe even in much of the world.

From my experience, its a matter of foresight and intent.

From the facts and various well researched studies, its a matter of monetary advantage.

The problem is three pronged:

• School funding - the way in which schools are funded is rampant with corruption or ingenuine intentions. This is true for everything from private pre-schools to public schooling to private colleges...
• Education - the way in which kids are taught is largely inefficient, industrialized, and just wrong.
• Systemic ability - the way in which education and schooling is scaled to reach the most amount of people is fundamentally broken.

Ideas for solutions

Redefining modern education

We should not be pouring facts and figures and formulas into children’s heads.

We should be fostering and cultivating the natural talent, passions, or interests of every student.

The term ‘educate’ quite literally means to draw out… as in to find the talent or knowledge in someone and build on that… its from the Aristotelian classrooms where, despite the lecture-based structure, students often debated and had back and forth conversations rather than just sat and took notes…

The modern day system was built not for the purpose of educating the massed or raising successive generations of well-educated and capable citizens… but instead to train youth for factory work and compulsory obedience.

Here we are facing the consequences of a century-old treachery.

Inspired, by design

Places of learning should motivate and invigorate people by their very presence and aesthetic, not be just another drab, utilitarian imposition like the factories of yesteryear.

We need to systematically remove every industrialized facet of the education system with even more zeal than it was imposed.

Lifelong

School should not stop at 18, or 28… If anything, adults need the rigors and infusion of new knowledge more than children in this age of constant change.

Fund the Change

Funding based on commision and intractable safety nets for always teaching basic language, arithmetic, historical, technical, and emotional literacy.

The commision should not be on the most successful students, although that can be a multiplier effect, but on the most improved and the network effect in relation to community impact of each student.

The structure of schools should thus be as an expansive library with hundreds of classrooms and labs and such. It shouldn’t just feature books, but also every example of modern day technology to allow people to see progress, receive education or training, and themselves innovate or invent on-site (or at least register their contribution to the system, which will work profusely to ensure they are recognized and compensated for any infringements or inspired mods. This compensation would not be punitive in nature, instead it would do its best to be collaborative, where no more than 5% of a contested infringement, and no more than 20% of an uncontested infringement… subject to change in favor of increasing competition)...

In any case, the structure of school should be customized per individual. Their personal curriculums should grow and evolve with them throughout their entire life. Most importantly, ‘school’ should directly help people to create value in the world.

There is SO much to be said here… much of which is in my shamelessly plugged book on my Ambition.

I will certainly revisit this, but the fundamental truth is that school must change drastically for humanity to ever hope to fix itself.