Currently my colleagues and I have the challenging and inspiring task of designing a new school (Year 0 – 10) in the, still dawning, age of AI.
From the deeply informed educators, health/sport professionals, absolute IT experts, etc, I am engaged with I know we are doing a great job. The three main challengers tabled – in broad terms – are:
- what are the developmental and educational challenges of current children and youth in general, and for every child we will work with?
- what are the traditional and current practices that are deeply worth maintaining and enhancing?
- what are the advantages of new technologies and, how to accurately apply the good ones and avoid the gimmicks?
This was sent to me by one of my team. A long but worthwhile watch from minute one.
Please share.
Republished with permission from the author’s Substack.
Alwyn, IMO there are virtually no current practices that are deeply worth maintaining and enhancing. Demolish the lot and start from scratch.
As for technology, it needs to be severely limited. Of course we need to teach are children to read and perform simple maths, however a lot of the mathematical curriculum is extremely redundant for general use and takes up valuable time from real world lessons. Introduce critical thinking, the value of wholesome human interactions, survival skills, where food comes from, autonomy, self worth.
Build resilience, and teach our children not to make lemonade from lemons, but to understand that sometimes life just sucks, accept that as part of life and work through it. Trying to find joy and happiness in everything is unrealistic. But use the deep connections with people that have been developed through real life and not online. Teach then to live in the moment and find contentment, laughter, fun and happiness as it happens.
Children are now asking why they are not given any financial education. Learning how to spot a fraud, a scam, a spoof and a nudge to the subconscious, as well as navigating their way around the unexpected pressure of situations of duress could take some educational skill and dedication.