Our education system - how did we get here and how might the future of education look like?
"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
The article discusses the need for revamping the current education system in the face of technological advancements and the rise of AI. It emphasizes the importance of developing new skills and competencies to prepare students for the future workforce.
Growing up, I found school frustrating. Many subjects and topics felt outdated, and I struggled to see their real-world relevance. Academic success often seemed to be more about memorization and pleasing teachers than demonstrating true understanding or original thinking. Asking and understanding the ‘why’ was irrelevant. It was a system that didn't always reward insight, creativity or genuine intelligence.
The Origins of Our Current Education System
The current education system was designed with specific goals in mind, catering to the needs of previous generations. The aim was to create a scalable system that could be evaluated on a relative basis, producing employees who could follow instructions and contribute to the workforce and tax base of the past. Students were trained to ask the who, what, where, and sometimes how, but rarely the why. However, with rapid technological advancements, particularly in the field of AI, it is becoming increasingly evident that this approach is no longer adequate.
One of the major issues with the current system is the confusion between schooling and education. This has led to the misguided belief that more schooling automatically equates to more learning. Schools operate under the false assumption that learning can be quantified and measured through grades and certificates, creating a false hierarchy of "educated" and "uneducated" individuals based on their level of formal schooling. This monopoly on education marginalizes other forms of learning and creates a dependence on formal institutions, reducing learning to a product that can be bought and sold rather than recognizing it as a lifelong process.
The Advent of AI and the Need for Educational Reform
The rise of AI has brought about significant changes in the workforce. First, it has eliminated, and will continue to eliminate, the need for simple jobs that require low levels of intellectual and computational power. This includes repetitive jobs such as data entry clerks, administrative assistants, and even junior-level positions like lawyers and financial analysts. For example, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and other banks are considering cutting back on their hiring of junior investment banking analysts by as much as two-thirds and slashing the pay of those they do hire, on the grounds that the jobs won't be as taxing as before. For a company to boost shareholder returns by expanding margins, leveraging AI, and employing fewer employees is a no-brainer.
Second, among the jobs that are not fully automated by AI, the widespread availability of personal AI assistants and agents enhances productivity and eliminates the need for memorization, as these tools can recall previous events and learn and execute a wide array of day-to-day processes. A large proportion of the curriculum for many majors is comprised of memorizing temporal facts that are obsolete in some cases by the time a student is graduating. This decreasing return on investment in education is expected to drive a sea-change in education in general.
In light of these developments, we should rethink our approach to education. The skills and knowledge that were once considered essential may no longer be relevant.
The Skills of the Future
To thrive in the age of AI, students will need to develop a new set of skills and competencies:
The ability to ask the right questions i.e., the ‘why’ (considering format and context when interfacing with AI), deeply understand complex issues, challenge existing beliefs, thinking outside the box and identify areas for improvement
Humans are social creatures, and the ability to work in groups, coordinate efforts, and achieve common goals will remain important. Strong social connections also contribute to overall happiness and life satisfaction, which is pivotal for a well functioning society
Heightened focus on technological literacy as digital tools and systems will become integral to every industry and job function
Adaptability and continuous learning skills, as the pace of change accelerates and new technologies emerge rapidly
Interdisciplinary thinking and the ability to connect insights from various fields to solve complex problems
Human ethics and morals will become a fundamental layer for decision making. Second, third and higher order implications must be considered when assessing innovation and its ethical considerations
What We Can Leave Behind
As we embrace the skills of the future, we must also recognize that certain aspects of traditional education may no longer be necessary:
With vast amounts of information readily accessible, the ability to memorize facts and figures may become less important. For example, doctors can simply input a plethora of patient information and query a healthcare-focused small language model that outputs potential treatments and next steps. The doctor's job would then be validate, interpret and decide which is the best path forward based on their medical understanding, rather than relying solely on memory
AI tools excel at tedious processes (formatting, synthesizing etc.) reducing the need for repetitive tasks that schools emphasize
Isolated subject knowledge will become less important as real-world problems and responsible AI development require integrating insights from various disciplines and domains
Conformity and standardization were skills that were crucial in developing skills for the previous generation of the education system where students were expected to learn at the same pace and in the same way
Passive lecture-style learning, which emphasize note-taking and practicing questions within a narrow band may become less effective in preparing students for the future. Instead, education systems may shift towards more active, experiential, and project-based learning approaches that foster creativity where students are encouraged to utilize tools such as AI
How Might Future Education Look Like?
Technology will enable personalized learning experiences tailored to individual strengths, weaknesses, learning speeds and goals. The next generation of learning will be able to 1) quantitatively define and describe what level of understanding a student is at using adaptive learning systems that utilize real-time data 2) customize the modality of learning to each student - e.g., video, text, interactive etc. and 3) personalize curriculum and style based on desired outcomes
As software advances more rapidly than hardware, white-collar jobs will be automated faster than blue-collar jobs. Among the remaining white-collar positions, there will be fewer openings as companies operate with leaner workforces and labor productivity per employee increases. Moreover, the IQ requirements for these roles will continue to rise, steadily decreasing the proportion of the population capable of performing them. Consequently, in the future, there may be a greater emphasis on training and specialization for blue-collar jobs to meet the demands of the evolving job market
After mastering fundamental skills, students should be tested in a school environment that closely resembles real-world scenarios. AI tools should be integrated into the learning process and encouraged for problem-solving. The use of these tools alone should not provide an advantage, as the focus should be on the student's ability to apply them effectively
Decentralized education will break down geographical barriers and provide access to the best resources (and teachers) from around the world. These teachers will leverage AI and other new cutting-edge technology to enhance their ability to deliver high-quality, personalized instruction to a global audience. However, access to these decentralized education platforms will largely depend on the approval and support of individual nation-states, as they will have the power to regulate and control adoption within their borders
Closing Remarks
The need to revamp our education system has never been more pressing. Given the rapidly evolving world we live in, I can only imagine how frustrating the current system must be for the new generation of students, considering that I felt disconnected from my own education. It is essential that students feel empowered by the future and understand the value they can add, rather than feeling hopeless and studying materials that seem irrelevant to the world they will inherit.
Educational reform should be at the absolute top of the agenda for any nation aiming to remain competitive. By fostering the skills and competencies that will be most valuable in the future, we can prepare students to thrive in an uncertain world and make meaningful contributions to society.