Education Generation-Next

In ancient India, education was imparted under the guru for the nobility. This system led to task based knowledge development, ranging from religion to warfare to trade. A number of universities like Taxila (5 Century BC), Nalanda (5 Century AD) and others developed. These institutions offered studies based on the Vedas and practical disciplines like medicine, and attracted a number of foreign students. India had a sophisticated system of mathematics that had developed since the Vedic period around the 8th Century BC. India's contributions included the concept of Zero. Many mathematicians were philosophers, logicians and astronomers.

Over the years, several multi-faceted individuals have influenced the course of the world, a small list of which includes Imhotep, Pythagoras, Aristotle, Archimedes, Nagarjuna, Aryabhata, Omar Khayyam, Amir Khusrow, da Vinci, Galileo, Newton, Tagore, AJC Bose and Schrodinger. The dominance of multi-faceted personalities seems to have declined lately. Over the past few centuries, society has developed single dimensional individuals, influenced by an education system that has evolved over the years into a rigid, silo based system.

Experiences in life are multi-disciplinary. Consider the following three series of events.

Indian influence spreading over Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia can be explained effectively by the fusion of several disciplines. The civilization in the Indian Subcontinent had been highly developed since ancient times. Indian traders sailed to Cambodia with the assistance of the monsoon winds, were forced to stay there for long periods till the winds blew in the opposite direction, imparted knowledge to the less developed indigenous people, traded goods and peacefully expanded their sphere of influence. The natives also learned engineering skills such as the irrigation system and sophisticated stone carving and construction from the Indians. The Khmer civilization spread to Thailand and Indonesia. A study of this era would span, as we know it, History, Geography, Sculpture, Dance, Agriculture, Engineering, Economics, Trade and Religion.

The study of Transportation represents a significant example of a multi-disciplinary area, encompassing the pre-historic wheel, animal powered transport, industrial revolution, steam engine, railways, internal combustion engine, automobiles, mass production, development of the aircraft and jet engines, shipping, ground transportation and alternative energy. The disciplines would span History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, Science, Technology, Manufacturing, Energy and Economics, among others.

A third example of a multi-disciplinary experience would be the lessons learnt from the study of World War I and World War II, which would include History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, Science, Technology, R&D catalyzed by World War I and II, Manufacturing, Engineering and Sociology.

The exponential pace of growth of technology and products over the past two decades has resulted in an overwhelming change in lifestyles and influences. Our children are most susceptible. It is true that children today have a different relationship with information and learning, as a result of their access to the internet and related technologies.

Our children are affected by the digital life: Children today learn and interact in ways that are very broad and multi-dimensional. By the time a child reaches adulthood, a child would have spent thousands of hours playing video games, sent hundreds of thousands emails, thousands of hours on the cell phone, but less than a few thousand hours reading. This intense interaction with technology has deeply affected the way our children interact with society and the environment.

Todays children are multi-tasking individuals. They need multi-media inputs, and use multimedia content whenever possible. They use the internet as the universal source of information. Some traits in todays children include the craving for interactivity, excelling at interpreting visual images, strong visual-spatial skills, tendency for parallel processing and inductive discovery, look for fast response times, short attention span and wanting to learn things that they believe matter.

As the global economy develops further and countries need to collaborate, it would be essential for children to focus on making connections, solve problems, move beyond learning to absorb a vast array of multi-sourced information to learning how to apply information, team learning, address peer-to-peer situations, experiential learning, analyze and learning through exploration. Children would increasingly need to learn to use technology, video conferencing, online collaboration tools and virtual discussions, to sustain and monetize innovation.

While opportunities are global, so are challenges and threats. The Internet has created a level playing field where an Indian has the same opportunity as an Armenian or a Bulgarian or a Chinese. Children would need to be mentored to enable them perform as global citizens, exploring civic responsibilities, gaining cultural awareness, learning about the environment, leverage social networking, understanding the global economy, climate change, create a balance between personal ambitions, environment, society and economy.

Our world has turned full circle. The multi-faceted individual would probably need to emerge once again. Our education system would need to lead and catalyze this change through multidisciplinary, connected experiences and application oriented methods. Fundamental topics like Mathematics and Sciences would need to be continued to be taught in-depth, like in our ancient Universities. These core subjects would ideally need to be connected and converged with topics like History, Geography and the Arts, some of which are experiential in nature. Analytical skill development would be critical in adding value in all disciplines of study. Moreover, the education system would need to address the curiosity, impatience and demands of the continuously connected, always on, global citizen of tomorrow.

- Jyotinath Ganguly (Batch of 1975), ganguly.jyotinath@gmail.com

(Jyotinath Ganguly graduated from St Josephs in Dec 1975 and acquired a BE degree from Bangalore University and MS degree from Clemson University (USA). Currently at HewlettPackard, Jyotinath is responsible for Channel Partner development and Market development. His interests include travelling, teaching and photography.)