Today, the world is going through a period that can be called "information glut" - the volume of the incoming stream, which hits the average resident of the metropolis, is much greater than the bandwidth of its perception. We are literally drowning in an abundance of advertising, news, reviews, videos, competition results and other informational "noise". In such a situation, the role of education in life - both school and university, so optional, independent, becomes invaluable.
How the amount of "stored knowledge" in the world increased
For the primitive communal tribe, any knowledge was a treasure - harmed, gathered to the core of many mistakes and failures, it was passed from father to son, from mother to daughter, from shaman to student. How to make a stone tip, how best to sneak up on a mammoth, and then save its skin. The chain was interrupted - knowledge was lost.
Over time, the need to secure precious technologies and recipes led to the emergence of writing - primitive icons on stone and clay eventually turned into an alphabet. Clay tablets evolved into papyrus scrolls and hand-written leather books. And all this time, information was the greatest value - libraries were valued by emperors above silver and gold. The role of education in the modern world is not so acutely felt - after all, all the knowledge of the world is open to us.
The first breakthrough was Gutenberg's printed books. From the subject of an elitist book began to turn into a prestigious thing, but affordable and the middle class. Since then, the number of books in the world has multiplied, creating more and more "stored knowledge." At the same time, there was still a shortage of information - most people accepted less than they could absorb.
Century of Computer Technology
The advent of the Internet has become a real revolution - no less, and perhaps more significant, than printing presses. The spread and amount of information with the advent of the World Wide Web began to grow at a fantastic pace.
Over time, the average user of a personal computer, spending 3-4 hours on the network, began to literally "overload" with an endless stream of chaotic knowledge, splashing onto him from the computer screen.
Moreover, most of the information is frankly “garbage”. A huge amount of advertising, memes, jokes and jokes do not carry anything significant. They literally "clog the RAM" of a person, significantly reducing their mental abilities.
Excessive theory has reduced and worsened practice. If four hundred years ago, an apprentice who studied the technology of pot roasting with a master, not only used it “from inside and out”, but often improved it, today most of us simply “dump from memory” 99% of what we perceived per day.
That is why the role of education in the modern world should not be reduced to diligent acquisition of knowledge. Much more attention should be paid to filtering, focusing on the necessary, the formation and development of certain skills.
What are we actually taught?
I am sure that many of us, entering a university, were horrified to realize that the knowledge gained over eleven years of hard cramming was either simply not needed or was safely forgotten when passing the final exams. How often you can hear from the teachers of the institute or academy - "forget everything that you were taught at school." Excuse me - so what were these long years at the desk?
Even more surprisingly, when we get to work we hear again - forget everything that you were taught at the university. It turns out that a decade and a half you just need to "throw in a landfill"? Then why is such an education necessary?
Why is this happening?
The fact is that the modern educational system is trite not keeping pace with the pace of development of society. The new program has not yet managed to get on the pages of textbooks, but is already outdated. Today, many scientists and teachers are starting to say that the role of education in the modern world is to capture the processes taking place in the world and to “arm” a person with an optimal set of skills that allow him to successfully achieve his goals.
If a hundred years ago, the education system was a steam locomotive developing human thought, now it is turning into a brake that limits it.
What needs to be changed
At what points do scientists all over the world draw attention now?
- "Heavyness." It means the duration of the processes for creating special programs that teach schoolchildren and students. Development, testing, testing, release - this is many times longer than necessary. The development of education in the modern world is based precisely on such protracted, overly elaborated processes.
- The dominance of "academic" subjects. Mathematics, physics, language and literature - these disciplines account for the lion's share of school time. Of course, they are needed, but is it in such a volume? Remember how often most of us need algebra or higher mathematics? In order to count the change in the store, second-class arithmetic is enough. But girls at eighteen simply can’t cook dinner, and boys cannot hammer a nail or pump up a flat tire.
- Emphasis on lecture, a priori presentation of information. This factor is more pronounced in the school, where in the vast majority of subjects the alternative point of view is considered heretical and punished with bad marks. It seems that the role of education in the modern world is to “sharpen” an individual to one average standard.
- The prevalence of theory over practice. This ratio is very disharmonious. Anyone who has tried, for example, to master a ten-finger “blind” print using a computer, will see that for fifteen minutes of studying the program there are many hours of practical exercises. At the desk, the opposite is true - teaching theoretical material is many times greater than mastering practical skills.
As we see, science and education in the modern world are far from optimal. What subjects could be introduced, for example, in secondary schools?
Car service
Today, almost every family has a passenger car, or even more than one. At the same time, everyone has to study for several months (most often combining this with work) and take it on rights, spending time, energy and time on it. In high school, it would be possible to teach both theory and driving practice. For two years (grades 10 and 11), students would have mastered the entire necessary knowledge base, and managed to roll 300-500 hours each. This would lead to a significant reduction in the number of accidents and an improvement in the general situation on the roads. Unfortunately, the education system in the modern world prefers to teach logarithms and root extraction, which can be useful, at best, to one of ten graduates.
Maintenance, knowledge of regulatory acts - all of this, too, would have found a place in the clock network.
Legal literacy
Professional lawyers do not always understand the intricacies of our laws, but for the average person this is generally a dark forest. It would be worthwhile to teach the rights and duties of a citizen in various life situations, the ability to work with relevant documents and government agencies, starting from grades 7-8. Imagine how the importance of education in the modern world will grow if such subjects begin to appear in ordinary schools.
Financial "personal management"
The vast majority of us do not know how to properly manage our money - from household expenses and ending with lending to banks. It is unlikely that the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation is very worried, but how many people numerous errors lead to falling into "debt holes", failures in business, problems with the family budget. Of course, you need to learn from your mistakes, but you can completely do without them.
You can start learning how to handle money starting from elementary school, instilling in your children a reasonable and serious attitude to material values. Alas, the problems of education in the modern world are very serious, and it is unlikely that such a subject will appear in secondary schools in the near future.
Time management, or "time management"
Think about how efficiently you use time throughout the day. Thinking about it? If you sit down for five minutes with a pen and paper and remember everything that you did during the day, you will see that with a minimum planning of tasks for the day, you would do half as many useful things.
Children are a clean slate. Systematic training, starting from the 3-4th grade, would create a concrete habit for final exams to plan and calculate your actions, write down phones and contact details, save and use your precious time wisely. The Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation is unlikely to introduce such a revolutionary subject in the school curriculum in the near future, and it is worth counting only on universities, especially with a financial and economic bias.
Household skills of man and woman
In Soviet times, there was a good subject called "labor". It was taught to work with a jigsaw, burn wood, grind parts on a milling machine, put together stools. Girls were offered cutting, embroidery, knitting, and sometimes the basics of cooking. Some of this could be applied in life, some not, but overall there was a healthy grain in it.
In today's school, labor has evolved into a discipline called technology. This subject has even less practical significance for students - since the world has changed a lot since the “work”, and the program has changed little - and this is an indicator that the education system in the modern world is constantly late. She takes a closer look, ponders, analyzes, painfully gives birth and does not constantly keep up with the world.
What should be taught in technology lessons? How to fix the socket and screw the chandelier, how to assemble the cabinet and drill the wall. Using a stove and a double boiler, a washing machine and a dishwasher - this knowledge would be of great help to young people coming out of the school gates.
To summarize
Science and education in the modern world are not too similar to each other. Science is the spearhead of human thought directed from the past to the unknown, it is brilliant insights and amazing discoveries. Education in its main segment is an echo of the echo that has passed through many filters, refined knowledge, often outdated or simply unnecessary.
The role of education in society is extremely high. This is a good or bad job, it is an interesting or boring life, it is a dull weekdays or sparkling adventures. A person can learn all his life, or he can stop developing already at a school desk.
What do we see now, today? The twenty-first century offers humanity the most serious challenges in its history. In order for us to be able to overcome them with honor, science and education in the modern world must be synchronous, creating a real “new person”.