3 Things I Learnt From “Stop Stealing Our Dreams” by Seth Godin

Our current education system is not matched to our world’s current needs

It was born during the industrial revolution when everything was about standardisation, efficiency and avoiding mistakes. The concept of 9–5 and structured hourly periods is a recent invention. This is a good way to produce large numbers of competent individuals.

However, we do not have a shortage of people who can successfully follow commands. To solve the problems of today, we need people can come up with new ideas and not be afraid to make mistakes. School does not foster these attributes.

The most valuable lesson is love of learning itself

This is more important than any amount of facts. Reading leads to more reading and writing leads to more writing due to the enjoyment of learning.

This is one thing ours schools should be teaching. How can we do so?

(not by just giving answers)

The internet can change the game

The internet is helping some to race to the top and others to race to the bottom. We have the greatest availability of information ever so are blessed with access to great ideas and learning opportunities. Before Gutenburg, only kings and scholars would have access to these kinds of information. Now we all do. Yet the internet also provides a plethora of distractions to prevent people from engaging in self-education.

The internet will enable education to be performed differently. There are several early examples; Wikipedia, Kahn Academy and Udacity. MIT now offer many of their university courses online and have seen thousands of participants. At present, there will be variation in the quality with which different subjects are taught but over time the best resources on each topic will undergo natural selection.