Society & School

Society needed school, not daycare. Now society needs daycare, not school. Education can come from so many sources now, making the current version of school irrelevant - aside from the daycare it provides.

The education system was created to serve two purposes. The first was standardization. The industrial revolution required many hands, each controlled by a brain that was inconsistent at best. Standardizing reading, writing, and arithmetic ensured each set of hands would be much more consistent and reliable.

The second was access to knowledge. It was impractical for households to have a diverse library, and for the stay-at-home parent to have read and understood each concept. By creating schools, we could bring books and students together — led by teachers who would play the “sage on a stage”. A sage being an incredibly knowledgeable and credible individual and the stage being the front of the classroom. Students would listen to their teacher as if nothing else existed and follow their instructions blindly — or be punished.

Fast forward to today, the two purposes are no longer applicable. Society wants humans that are creative and trailblazers. Thanks to the internet, access to knowledge is now abundant. So, why does the education system still exist? What purposes is there for it to continue?

Well, society has developed two new needs over the course of time. The first is daycare. Compared to the early 1900’s, it’s now very unusually for there to be a stay-at-home parent. This reality was brought to light more then ever during the COVID-19 pandemic as parents were trying to work from home and take care of their children.

The second is where opportunity lies. Kids have unlimited access to knowledge but it’s overwhelming to such a degree that anyone, regardless of age, is likely to end up distracted and off track. So the second need of society is to help kids focus on learning by creating the right conditions — this is called the “guide on the side”. A guide, much like a tour guide, helping others identify and achieve their desired learning outcome. On the side because they’re not the focus of attention but instead off to the side and jumping in to help when needed.

None of this is new. Many working in the education system, deep down, understand and resent the fact that they’re now glorified daycares. The terms “sage on the stage” and “guide on the side” are also common, often used to point out the past and present ideologies (but not necessarily practices). So, why does the system still resist societies evolutionary needs?

Incremental upgrades don’t suffice when your desired outcome is opposite to and incompatible with your starting point. If you owned a McDonalds but wanted to serve steak and lobster, would you incrementally upgrade your fast food joint or start a new restaurant all together? If you owned a gas station but wanted to it provide EV charging instead, would you remove the pumps and tanks to install chargers, or start a second location? The education system is no different. That is to say, we need a new education system, built from the ground up, designed to meet societies needs of today and tomorrow.