Education is the major determinant of what a generation will accomplish and bring to this world. It is therefore the duty of education not to dictate, lecture, or fill with information, but to cultivate critical thinking, curiosity, collaboration, and independence. If an individual is imbued with a love for learning, then nothing will prevent that individual from seeking out knowledge on their own, which is an entirely viable endeavor in this era of instant information.
The goal of any educational system ought to be to create progressive thinkers, problem-solving inventors, and highly creative artists who understand the importance of specialization in tandem with collaboration. Content should take a back seat to methodology and means in the classroom. Rather than teaching kids what to think, the focus should be on exploring the varied ways of thinking. Adaptability to different perceptions and understandings of how the world works is an absolute necessity in a time when globalization through technology is dissolving all boundaries, on both a cultural and individual level.
Young's article "Actually Going to Class, for a Specific Course? How 20th-Century" could be taken as premonition of higher education dark ages, where a generation of anti-university adolescents discard learning models of the past for an alternative that suits their facility with technology better. On the other hand, the article shines a faint beam of hope on the potential for institutions and professors to accept the inevitable and facilitate a transition into actually implementing said technologies in the classroom. One may ask, "Why bother wasting time in class, around people I don't like, when all the answers are in my phone?" The thing is, we have yet to reach the point where phones grow our food, or give us our paycheck, or build our houses. Human interaction still plays a vital role, even if much human interaction takes place via different forms of technology. The principles remain the same, so what one learns in the presence of another is not only applicable, but integral.
The current dilemma faced by our educational system offers us a very important opportunity in terms of how we view education, and while the impetus may have been the burst of technological advances recently experienced, the questions that must be asked reach far beyond "To tweet or not to tweet?" There is no question that education must evolve in order to remain relevant in today's world. It already is evolving, whether the so-called individuals who determine what education consists of are conscious of it or not.
In order that we do not see simply a cutting and pasting of our current system of education into a Blackboard friendly model, we must remind ourselves of what is at the core of our educational needs. Information abounds at our fingertips already. What society needs more than ever is a massive overhaul of the modes of thought we have become accustomed to, and that flexibility must be incorporated into individuals at a young age. Children are the future, and their education ought to be the highest priority of any nation on this earth. Not just any education, but a truly holistic education that cultivates a love for learning and the ability to form thoughts and beliefs independently of others.
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