Success: Why You Need to Define Education for Yourself
Your Ability To Learn is Your Superpower in this age
Learning is something we naturally do as humans. We try to improve things around us. We are curious and we are very restless when we don't have all the answers.
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. — Alvin Toffler
As children, we are very curious and ask many questions. We ask so many that we frustrate our parents. We are taken to a formal institution when the age is right and acceptable. For most people, the formal education system will leave them a certain notion about education. And that isn't healthy for us as people.
School is good, we get to learn a lot. We get to be guided on what to learn and how to learn and to some extent, that is where the problem lies. We aren’t all the same and when it comes to what and how we learn, we will definitely have preferences.
The Education or “Schooling system” then becomes a restriction as it tries to satisfy certain curricula where not everyone can be satisfied through personalised and tailored education.
Schools also feed us with information which we are supposed to understand and answer questions on. If you have a new theory, “you are considered wrong” and told to provide the right answers else fail.
We then learn to take what is given us and to churn that out. We reduce from a thinking person to memory.
Perhaps the biggest issue with our education system is that we are spoon-fed. Then, what happens when one leaves the formal school system? How is such a person able to learn and to grow to fit their needs and problems alike? How do they identify and solve problems if all they were good for was memory and no strong thinking and logical reasoning?
There are a few things that are certain in life. Chief among the certain is that we will face difficulties and problems in life. How will old methods solve new personal problems?
The Need to Redefine the Meaning of Education
When institutionalization happens, the people in the system are in a machine meant to produce what the system is designed to produce. Everyone comes out in in a slightly different but very identical way to the next person. In this era of great competition, constant change and complexities, how will we solve our complex problems if everyone ends up thinking in the same fashion? What happens if we do not have outliers who explore knowledge outside of what is already known?
Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune. — Jim Rohn
We Need to Normalise Self-Education
Everyone needs to commit to lifelong education. Because school is simply short enough for us to learn everything we need. In most cases, students find it difficult finding their feet when they leave school. They do not have a sense of purpose, lack values and the skills needed to fit in the current setting. Curricula which isn’t updated will end up teaching students for an era that is far gone creating a mismatch in the market. If these students are not able to redefine education into a lifelong endeavour, they will stop improving, stop learning and not grow. They will blame the education system, but the education system cannot keep you forever. So what happens? Bitter degree holders who don't fit in the system quite well!
Through a commitment to lifelong education, everyone can learn to do everything they want. They may want to change industries but don't have money to go back to school. They may have to learn and upgrade their skills for promotion. They may want to start a business. They may want to do myriads of things that the formal education system cannot possibly provide for.
Imagine this, how do people exploring new things that no one has ever ventured into? How do they learn to create knowledge in those fields that can help them to solve serious problems the world faces? Without a strong backing on how to learn and improve their abilities, much of the new things we see wouldn't exist because there is little to no information on how to do those things.
We all need to find what fits us. Yours may be researching. Mine could be reading books. Everyone has a learning style that helps them to maximise the slightest effort they put into learning, growing and becoming better.
The world needs people who are constantly growing and becoming better.
Success is constantly growing into the person you are meant to be. It doesn't end. And Learning is a huge part of success.
We need to move beyond the idea that an education is something provided for us, and toward the idea that an education is something that we create for ourselves. — Stephen Downes
