What future for education?

Intellectual arrogance.

This is the final week of the course What future for education? After thinking about the topic for a while and specially when it comes to my own context, I think education will have to transform very fast in years to come. It is definitely a key  part of our society that needs to modify its objectives. Our society is not the same as it was ten years ago and it is quickly transforming itself in every aspect. So, if our needs change, the educational system will have to change accordingly. To me, education will have to give special attention to its purposes: do we have to raise people for labor? Do we need new abilities and creativity? Do we want specialization for everyone attending a school? Is it necessary to raise informed citizens or just obedient citizens? 

Today education is turning its attention to the development of free individuals that can reflect on their own learning and thus learn autonomously or even teach others easily. Thats a great start: understand learning is not about passing exams but to be systematically able to gain conscience of our own capabilities in our own context. But it is not enough. We need to review our local and global objectives with education. We need to be able to rip off certain values related with success and money and replace them with empathy and common good and well-being. We need to stop learning how to compete by playing-the-game and restore honesty and free thought. Our global status requires also some general shared objectives related to earth conservation, to give just one example. Also they cannot be addressed in the same way in London or Somalia, we need to adapt those shared objectives to our own local needs. 

We have forgotten that education is not a goal or a simple statistic. We cannot rely on access to education, because it does not reflect its real outcome. Today we have a high percentage of schooled individuals, but if those individuals cant find a place for them in their societies, what difference does it make to be schooled or not? Education should give individuals some sense of belonging and community; it must not, as it does today, give a sense of superiority and competence.