We need a revolution in education

I convinced one of my friend (topper in his class) to came to my home to check out a Ted talk given by Seth Godin on school education. Watch it here before you continue.

But changes are that you will not have enough time to watch the video. So let me tell you what’s in it. Seth starts by telling how and why and for what reason public schools were introduced in the early nineteen century. Then he goes on to talk about the limitation of the education system: what’s wrong with them and what can we do about it. In the talk he reveals 10 things which he thinks are going to change completely in this 21th century. At last he gave us two myths to think about. He want us to ask yourselves what is school for and if we don’t what is school for then he suggests to have a conversation in order to answer the question “what is school for”.

After watching the video, me and my friend had a very short conversation on this topic.

I asked him “So are you convinced that schools are not just silly but too harmful to waste our time in there or you disagree about something Seth said”.

He told me that he was very well convinced. He was among the topper in his class.

Then I insisted  “if you understands the limitation and harmfulness of school why don’t you ditch the school and start your self-education”.

The answer I got opened my eyes.

He said ” There has to be something to back my life on. I completely understand you and I’m aware of the real nature of schools and their defenders but I alone can’t go against everyone even if I am pretty sure that I’m right.

(Now you know why schools strive. The Existence of School is based on only one thing: fear of uncertainty. If there is even a bit less fear in people’s mind they shall come to realize that the theory on which School is based is not just stupid but harmful in the 21th century. Now we are at the crossroad because technology is too here.)

It takes guts to try something new and right. Without much resources with us to make things happen. I think there are more than enough people in the world like my friend who know the right thing but doing the wrong thing only because the people surrounding them are doing the wrong thing. Rather then find their tribe as Seth say in his book Tribe: we need you to lead us they are trying to fit in and compromise.

The best way to complain is to make thing.

– James Murphy

There are two very effective things I learned from Seth Godin first: This isn’t for you, it’s for her. If people didn’t like your art or admired your choices, two things are possible, one, your art suck or, your audience suck (the one you showed your art to). Make better art or change your audience. Second thing which I learned is that leadership is not difficult but if you are trained by school for years to avoid it. You can put almost any word like equality in place of the word leadership, the sentence won’t lose its value.

Thank god (though I don’t believe in God) Gandhi didn’t gave up just because their was less certainty in what he was doing compared to what he might have done: compromise.

Thank god Luther did not gave up just because he had few resources to make things happen compared to what he might have done: compromise.

I firmly believe that the reason people stick to school is not because there is any kind of lack of resources or skills or fear of change or even desire to do something interesting and impact the world and the like. But I think there is only and only one thing which is stopping us from doing something interesting and generous: a hand full of people and their fucking opinions, the jerks.

Be silent and get rid of the jerks. That’s what Bob Tobin says in this PDF.

People will say what you are doing is the wrong thing because they have to justify their own crappy decisions                                                 – Till H.Grob

The Led talk by Till H.Grob. Truly worth watching.

If fear is the obstacle then I have this thing to say:

We don’t have to go it alone as long as we agree to go together and go first.

Seth godin’s inspiring words: The tragedy of small expectations (and the trap of false dreams) June 24, 2015

Ask a hundred students at Harvard Business School if they expect to be up for a good job when they graduate, and all of them will say “yes.”

Ask a bright ten-year old girl if she expects to have a chance at a career as a mathematician, and the odds are she’s already been brainwashed into saying “no.”

Expectations aren’t guarantees, but expectations give us the chance to act as if, to trade now for later, to invest in hard work and productive dreaming on our way to making an impact.

Expectations work for two reasons. First, they give us the enthusiasm and confidence to do hard work. Second, like a placebo, they subtly change our attitude, and give us the resilience to make it through the rough spots. “Eventually” gives us the energy to persist.

When our culture (our media, our power structures, our society) says, “people who look like you shouldn’t expect to have a life like that,” we’re stealing. Stealing from people capable of achieving more, and stealing from our community as well. How can our society (that’s us) say, “we don’t expect you to graduate, we don’t expect you to lead, we don’t expect you to be trusted to make a difference?”

When people are pushed to exchange their passion and their effort for the false solace of giving up and lowering their expectations, we all lose. And (almost as bad, in the other direction) when they substitute the reality of expectations for the quixotic quest of impossibly large, unrealistic dreams, we lose as well. Disneyesque dreams are a form of hiding, because Prince Charming isn’t coming any time soon.

Expectations are not guarantees. Positive thinking doesn’t guarantee results, all it offers is something better than negative thinking.

Expectations that don’t match what’s possible are merely false dreams. And expectations that are too small are a waste. We need teachers and leaders and peers who will help us dig in deeper and discover what’s possible, so we can push to make it likely.

Expectations aren’t wishes, they’re part of a straightforward equation: This work plus that effort plus these bridges lead to a likelihood of that outcome. It’s a clear-eyed awareness of what’s possible combined with a community that shares your vision.

It’s easy to manipulate the language of expectations and turn it into a bootstrapping, you’re-on-your-own sort of abandonment. But expectation is contagious. Expectation comes from our culture. And most of all, expectation depends on support—persistent, generous support to create a place where leaping can occur.

There are limits all around us, stereotypes, unlevel playing fields, systemic challenges where there should be support instead. A quiet but intensely corrosive impact these injustices create is in the minds of the disenfranchised, in their perception of what is possible.

The mirror we hold up to the person next to us is one of the most important pictures she will ever see.

If we can help just one person refuse to accept false limits, we’ve made a contribution. If we can give people the education, the tools and the access they need to reach their goals, we’ve made a difference. And if we can help erase the systemic stories, traditions and policies that push entire groups of people to insist on less, we’ve changed the world. 

       

Can we buy some Time?

  

Time is the only quantity of which all the world’s technology cannot conjure a particle more.

                              – from the book ‘how to thrive in a digital age’ by Tom Chatfield

May be it can! After all Technology helps us to measure. And as Peter Ducker said ‘What gets measured, gets managed.’

We measure to manage in order to save what can be saved. You’ve probably heard the saying ‘Money saved is money earned’. Some goes with the time.

‘What gets measured, gets managed, gets saved. So that means gets earned.’

Isn’t it stupid to ask for more and at the same time misuse (or use less) what we already have?

Isn’t it silly to ask for more even when we don’t know if we are using what we already have well enough?

trust v/s law

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.
– Pope

Why make laws, restrictions, borders ?

No matter how great the laws are, if bad people can find a way to trick the law, why make them at first place.

No matter how great innovations like internet, television, mobile phone, credit card, banks and stuff are, bad people can find a way around to misuse them.

Here’s the reality of the information age: No matter how much money rewards you give people in exchange of intrinsic motivations (freedom, mastery and purpose) they will refuse you. That age is gone where money was everything in business. In this new digital age, freedom, purpose and mastery is the new currency. Trust is the new goal.

Suggested reading: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us by Daniel Pink.

I read about a study conducted by researchers from a book ( I tried to search this study to read it again in order to be more accurate but I can’t remember from which book I read it ). So the irony of the study is that if people want to buy something to eat, they are told to take the food from the food stall and put the money mentioned on the label in a basket themselves though a signboard. There is no one around the food stall selling stuff or anyone for safety of the stall. People can easily steal the food and run away without paying a buck. But the result shows something different and fascinating. I don’t remember the exact numbers but I know that around 90% of buyers paid money for the food comparing to the 10% steal. So this shows that 90% of the people are honest. Only 1/10 of the people have the desire to steal if provided with the opportunity.

I think this depends on balance. One factor is the quality of the opportunity given. How good the opportunity is? How many people are stealing food? I am sure that if someone mentioned on the signboard this “48% of the people didn’t pay for the food” there will a flood of steals. I don’t think that their will be anymore than slight change in the amount of motivation if the above statement is change to this: “Please pay for the food because 48% of the people didn’t pay for the food” as Dr. Robert Cialdini, In the field of influence and persuasion he is the most cited living psychologist in the world today, in his book Influence:The psychology of persuasion showed that people go with the crowd. The other factor might be context. Someone who hasn’t eaten even a slice of bread for days is obviously a hundred times more likely to steal than someone from a rich family. It depends on balance, How much money she has ? How much she has the desire to steal or to buy ? What is her present status ? Her honest ? Her character ? ….. I think you get the point.

So why differentiate between legal and illegal as people will do anything if they have to, depending on the balance of the factors influencing their context ? It’s like a burning platform test.

I think we need to make people aware of what is right and what is wrong, what hurts other and what doesn’t hurts others etc.

So the solution I think is grow the people not the laws.

The solution is to strength trust not restrictions.

Remember what sir Pope said “Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.” So all we need is great balance in order to grow people good. If someone has a burning desire to steal the food from the stall as she might be the victim of hunger we need to grow her character and make her aware what is right and what is wrong, how much is it right and how much is it wrong, what will be the consequences of it and other things like that. We can’t control natural calamities or randomness. But we can control character. We can control ideas and innovation which can change the context of the people who forces them to act irresponsibly.

Suggested reading: Switch: How to change things when change is hard By Chip and Dan Heath (full book).

At last, one more worth thinking about quote.

Widespread distrust is the society……imposed a kind of tax on all forms of economic activities, a tax that high-trust society do not have to pay.

                                   – Francis Fukuyama, Economist

curse of knowledge

An idea I read about from the book Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. So what’s the story behind the term ‘curse of knowledge’. It states that When we know something its difficult to imagine what it is like not knowing it. So here’s an exercise worth trying. I tried to imagine how I might have thought if don’t know something (an idea, news or anything) which I know now. And I found it really difficult to do properly. What I did was I rolled back to the time when I don’t know something which I know now and tried to remember how I used to think before I know an information which I knew now. It’s a thought-provoking and sometimes helpful exercise. I am wondering if it might be helpful for parents trying to understand their kids. But I don’t think it will be very effective because first, it’s a bit of hard work, second, every generation is born in difference times so to think that the kid will think the same as we thought when we were their age is like limiting the kids to our own thinking. Curse of knowledge can work in other areas too.

stupid genius

These are my words to the well educated (as they call themselves) but still middle-class people in the fight against common people’s worldwide stupidity:

Your stupidity frustrate me

Mine frustrate you

You want to help me

I want to serve you

You want to change my mind

I need to change yours

You try to understand my mind

I need to influence yours

Your seek to be understood

I seek to be understood

You think you are right

I believe I’m rarely wrong

A part of your mind want to think different

A part of my mind want to think similar

But still…

Your stupidity frustrate me.

Mine frustrate you.

Solution:

Easy one-

Talk! don’t stop, talk more

Hard one-

Whatever you think, think its opposite twice

Show me your struggle

respect, courage, intelligence, smartness, tolerance, honesty…… is not said, its shown.

And that’s where the struggle and real hard work come from.

life is struggle.

two solutions to the world

One is analysis-paralysis-kind-of-people and the other is risk-taking-kind-of-people.

In analysis paralysis, we want to know everything we can no matter how much time it takes to ensure that everything will the way planned without any chance of failure. Where we keep on gathering information then thinking then thinking hard, asking hard question about almost everything, trying to articulate every possible situation we can imagine in order to not let anything go wrong, we search for perfection and then finally we execute, we take action thinking there is no possible way down, we are going to find success.

The other is Risk taking. In this solution we don’t care how we know, how much we need to know to find success. But while taking risk we do know that a lot more chances of failure than to go it right. By knowing probably,statistically there are less changes to go it right than breaking it down we know that failure is inevitable and there is all the possibility to fail so we accept that and hope to find a way around setback, learn from it to try again.

With the first solution we can play very few turns but with high possibility (By higher I mean not 100% chances because it is really impossible, you have all the right to believe anything you want to) of success whereas with the second solution we can play a lot of turns but with less possibility of finding its way to the intended destination.

What do you think which is right solution to achieve your stuff ?

Which is faster way to success ?

By which solution you can find more overall lifetime success ?

There are a lot of analysis-paralysis-kind-of-people but only few are successful.There are only few risk takers but almost all are successful.

I suggest you to take the hybrid solution like I am trying to do.

For now I believe this much is enough to make you think. Think!

Why school education sucks!

This is my first post.

So I’m thinking of writing about school education ( i will also write about many other topics but mostly about education and what needs change ).

When i was or anyone else born in a middle-class Indian family it was obvious that will go to a school after I’m 3 or 4 years old as if there is no other alternative on earth. As famous management guru Seth Godin wrote in his book The Acuras Deception that there is less controversy about schools and their systems.The first step to solve the problem is to know the problem. I don’t want you to think that I am just  trying to make an issue where there is none. In this digital age we all know that the voice of every individual is strengthen. In the past School Education were always been criticized by the fringe with rational proofs about their limitation but what has changed now is the beginning of a new digital age, making it easier for individuals without much credentials to raise her voice expecting that her opinions will be heard and taken into account. I can tell you hundreds of problem if you have the willingness to believe that they are problems and they can be solved.

Institution will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.

-Clay Shirky,professor at NYU and author of here  comes everybody and  cognitive surplus

first problems – money – it take hundreds of thousands of dollars to get education in school.

You have wasted $150000 on an education you could have got for a buck fifty in late charges at the public library

-Matt Damon as Will Hunting, Good Will Hunting

second problem – uniqueness – everyone is different in some ways and similar in many ways. But schools need to use our uniqueness not our commonness, students who came to school are not factory workers who are being trained to do routine tasks. Everyone has her different ways of doing things, everyone has her different wants, everyone has her ability, everyone has her own unique point of view but no where difference in needed schools encourage the opposite.

Education is not the answer to the question. Education is the means to the answer to all question.

-Bill Allin, sociologist and education activist

It is important that students bring a certain ragamiffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.

-Jacob Bronowski, writer and presenter of The Ascent of Man

I have written these words on education not to convince people to do something about it but to make you aware of something so that when there is a fight on education reforms you must not find yourself fighting from the wrong side.These are just the two of the hundreds of problems with school education and their systems. I will write about many other problems and then their solutions, and if implemented the solution needed for change I will talk about their consequences. But for now this much is enough to make you at least think for a moment. This is my first ever blog post or any post on internet. It has begin from now. At last I want to say is just stop and think for a moment about what i wrote.

If you agree with anything written here I’ll be delighted to here from you but if you disagree and want to criticize I’m damn desperate to know your opinion.

Last words, think !