Education Systems vs Decentralised Learning
MIRLOS for #decentralisedlearning
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Since we started discussing about Principles and Values for Decentralized Learning in the studio, we realised that we need to address Education in the new life-context of the new digital opportunities that the Internet of Value offers. We share here the general views of some of the members at Mirlo Studio, after our own experiences in Primary, Secondary, High School, Music Conservatories, Art & Design Schools and College.
After some interesting observations and exchanges, we see that complaints are arising about how many Education Systems are failing to provide young people the skillset they need to... to what? get a job? have a successful career? live a prosperous life?
Present Challenges
Depending on every person, frustration is expressed in different ways.
If you are looking for a job, you may need to understand the “employment marketplace” which is right now in exponential evolution -not to say a proper revolution- with the introduction of AI and other technologies. Honestly, does anyone really know what the employment marketplace will look like in the next five years? You can prepare for a job offer today, but you need to embrace to keep learning and prepare for another job tomorrow where what you learn today may not be useful anymore…
If you are looking to have a successful career, you may need to prove your special skills and specific qualities in any field so that your community can appreciate your contributions. Getting a job can be a first step, your beginner framework for further developments, adapting the future needs. Therefore you need to keep open-minded and develop genuine observation and awareness about the world around you...
If you are looking for a prosperous life, you may want to build wealth for you, your family or your community, so you need to understand all about money and how to manage your finances. Yet, who is going to explain this to you clearly and decently?
Answers from Centralised Education Systems
Education is what an educator delivers…
To prepare for a job improving and updating your skillset, you can find great courses on the web, but you can rarely find such practical training in the Academic standardised education where programs take longer to update. Moreover, in our studio some members commented that only Art teachers used to transmit that learning is a never-ending journey: “At school, it is just about delivering good answers at a point and time […] having good grades only works within the educational system, and has not and actual reflection in life”...
To keep open-minded and develop genuine observation and awareness, you need to celebrate curiosity, dare to explore, and appreciate out of the box thinking. This is generally overlooked in the systems we know which prioritise adaptation to their standards and materials, designed with little space for personal research. Thinking for yourself is rarely celebrated in centralised educational systems, especially if it implies questioning. Again, in our studio, some member pointed out how “having a P2P tutor, like for the music instrument learning journey, helps knowing yourself better and defend your own views”…
To understand all about money and how to manage your finances is generally a training only available for business students in the centralised educational landscape. We recently hear about banks delivering courses in schools, but what are these courses about? Unfortunately, this is not a training for financial literacy and self-management to grow your own wealth; instead, banks here are just training future clients and obedient users of the financial centralised system. Young people are not fairly introduced to the history of money and how a new economy emerging on the web3 can open for them the opportunity to prosper on their own.
Answers from Decentralized Learning
Learning is the reward that a learner receives…
To prepare for a job improving and updating your skillset, you can find great courses on the web, so it’s been a while since Decentralized Learning has proved to be actually useful when seeking for a job. Moreover, we believe that Decentralized Learning is a practice that has a long way to go for children, with the necessary supervision and curation so that their rights are preserved.
To keep open-minded and develop genuine observation and awareness, you need to celebrate curiosity, dare exploring, and appreciate out of the box thinking and this is just what Decentralised Learning is all about: any student can remain in control and make his own learning journey, following their interests and only listening to mentors or advisors… For children once more, some curation and supervision is needed, just to help respond to their curiosity safely. In the studio we definitely believe in the role of previous human experiences, our human legacy, and how leading by example shapes the best human behaviours: “New generations don’t need to re-invent the wheel!”
To understand all about money, and how to manage your finances today, you can find great information in books and on the Internet. Young people need to be introduced fairly to the history of money, and how a new economy emerging on the web3 opens for them the opportunity to prosper on their own. Like for many other fields, financial literacy is something that needs to be addressed naturally since childhood, and Decentralized Learning might be the only way for many to get the chance to discover the new decentralized economy about to emerge. This might set the next generations for an era of prosperity… are we going to steal our kids this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to thrive?
What do you think? Would you like sharing your own views about future education? Here is a link for you to help us in our research about Decentralized Learning
Many families started aiming to decentralized learning long ago with homeschooling, and today we have successful examples of micro-schooling and un-schooling too. Moreover, there are great educational platforms that have shown us new ways in the past years (like Kahn Academy or Coursera to name two of he most successful). Therefore, we believe this is time for a new step forward to open the traditional curricula, offering new fields human development.
At MIRLOS, we are building a media library for Decentralized Learning. We have a first prototype and we would love to become a reference of well curated contents that can be useful to anyone, covering topics often overlooked by general educational systems such as the humanities, fundamental rights, financial literacy and the Internet of Value.
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