Education for What?

How can we redefine humanity through education?

Education enables the world to be transformed anew in every generation—perhaps now even more rapidly. Education is the most efficient way that humanity has found to transmit knowledge and skills across generations, like a baton that is passed on. Schools and universities are responsible for aggregating and curating information, as well as creating it via their research mission. Their promise to students is that what they provide, or rather co-create with the students, helps them define themselves and really “stand on the shoulders of the giants” who came before them. Each individual has an opportunity to define themselves uniquely. At its best, education enables them to broaden and understand the choices they face, and where their life contributions can be most impactful. Education is also the best engine for equalizing opportunities that we have—we can't make sure that people have supportive families or nurturing neighborhood environments, but we can collectively work on ensuring that everybody has an opportunity to learn, and through that learn to define themselves.

Which priorities and values will define education, and who will define them?

Traditional places of education, like schools and universities, stand at a crossroads. They will have a chance to become more relevant through constantly updating their offering. Or, increasingly, we will see other types of organizations and individuals (from small niche providers to TikTokers) taking on a large role in being sources of learning, as well as values. Students of all ages seek education and training that is relevant to the changing job market, provides answers or at least frameworks to think through their deeper factual and moral questions, and platforms or sandboxes in which to experiment and develop. At one level, educational institutions need to prioritize environments where all of these needs are provided, and at the same time provide long-lasting, nurturing communities that people can be a part of. Young people will define them by voting with their feet and attending the institutions that actually live up to these expectations.

At the same time, and this is tricky, education ought to be a part of the democratic process. Society as a whole should have a role in defining what the new generations should learn and "nudge" them into particular fields and skills, as well as to transmit the values that are collectively chosen.

How will technology transform students’ experience and ensure lifelong learning?

It goes almost without saying that technology will be an integral part of educational journeys, in the same way that it is already a part of everyday life. It is hard to say how education will be transformed, just as it is to predict how the world of work will evolve. There are tradeoffs and questions to which we don’t yet have the answer: for example, how do people at different stages learn best, and what is the most efficient way to provide education? As a concrete example, what is the optimal frequency for a class to meet online? It has to be open to students and instructors who may not be able to show up at 11 a.m. to a particular address, while also ensuring students can learn optimally, collaborate and build community. We do not yet know the answers to these simple questions.

However, one thing we can expect is that there will be more flexibility, with programs increasingly tailored to the needs of individuals, particularly non-traditional students. And of course, technology will facilitate many kinds of learning immensely, through online collaboration tools, demonstration through the use of 3D and immersive tools, and much more. We can expect education to be less focused on physical buildings, such as libraries and classrooms, since they will only be used when they are most appropriate rather than by default. This will in turn enable a greater focus on developing people as individuals, with fewer constraints—and technology will be an integral part of that development