Chapter #1 was just an introduction to the problem that we have with education. Now I want to return to a point in Chapter #1 and that is the education needed as compared to what we are giving our kids.
In the case of the cave man, he taught his kids how to "Survive", "Compete" and "Defend" themselves and their families. If for any reason, they were not able to do everyone of these things, we would not be here to day. The fact that we are means that the cave man must have done the job of educating his kids. What is needed today is the same as it was for the cave man. The big difference is that what our kids need to know to "Survive", "Compete" and "Defend" have changed. You could apply these same needs for education to dogs, ducks and deer and the results would be the same. We hear stories all the time about our parents or grandparents who only went thru 3rd grade, but were able to do the three things above. The implication is that if you had the same education that they had then you should be able to "Survive", "Compete" and "Defend". That is the first major mistake. The playing field is in a state of constant change and what kind of education you need will change accordingly. Here is the problem with our education and our attitudes, we don't recognize that the playing field is changing and we need to change what we teach. Sounds simple, but we are not doing it.
The causes are several. Education tends to be a "looking back" institution. Think about it. The instructors in our colleges who teach our teachers are about 50 years old on average. This means they graduated college about 30 years ago in 1980 and they were teaching material developed at least 20 years earlier in 1960. Our new teacher who graduated in 2010 was shown what to teach based on materials developed 50 years earlier. Now your kid who is 10 years old and in the 5th grade will need to be educated in materials that he will need to "Survive", "Compete" and "Defend" when he is about 45 years old which is 35 years from now in 2045. That is a long way off, but that is what is needed. Do you really think that any of your teachers think like this? I don't think so. How could they? How does anyone know the future and thus what to teach? There is an answer.
There are at least two major kinds of knowledge, "empirical" and "analytical". If you don't know the difference, look them up in the dictionary. Another way to view these different kinds of knowledge is that one is "practial" and the other is "theoretical". Now I am sure that your first thought is that what you want for your kid is "practical" knowledge, not a bunch of "theoretical" knowledge. Is that right? If so, you are dead wrong. Remember that we are trying to prepare our 10 year old for the year 2045 when he is 45 years old in the prime of his life. Since we don't know what the world is going to look like in 2045 we have to prepare him in a way that he can "Survive", "Compete" and "Defend". Strange as it might sound to you, what he needs is more "theoretical" knowledge. When my father was young, his dad prepared him in how to tend mules and that was the right thing to do back then. By the time my dad was 45 years old, he had not seen a mule in 20 years and thus the knowledge he got from his father was worthless. What my father needed was knowledge about the biology, chemistry and nutritional requirements of mammals. He could have then been competent to care for cows, dogs or pigs. It is like taking Latin in school. It is 100% worthless in the future. English is the language of the future and we just have to accept that. China has. They teach English in every school and you can bet that they don't teach Latin or Spanish.
Of all the subjects that have application in the future, math is number 1, and wouldn't you know. The USA is dead last in math in the world. Dead last. Countries with 1/10th the wealth of the USA do better in math. If that is not a wake up call, I don't know what is. Math will work and serve you no mater what happens in the future, most of the Bull Shit that is being taught will not. Reading and writing would be next to math and after that physics and chemistry. Even today we hear on the TV people talking about "free radicals" and these are not hippies who escaped from jail. 99% of the population have no real idea what a "free radical" is or where they come from or how they work. How about Ozone. It is bad stuff, right? If so why is it put in 90% of the swimming pools in the USA? See what I mean, we are already behind the curve for today and the rate of change for the future will be even faster. If you took and remember just high school chemistry, you could answer the two simple questions above. A lot of things seem to work and appear understandable when you are at sea level, but why does the same coffee taste different in Denver than in San Diego? If you notice the difference, how do you correct for the difference. Physics and it would work on the moon too. Imperial knowledge only works some of the time and in only some places, but analytical knowledge works all the time and in every place and in 2045 when your kid will need it.
I don't know if I made my point here, but what we need is for our kids to have a lot more analytical knowledge and not so much of fuzzy feel good stuff like go along to get along. Ask your self if you think in 2045 your kid will be able to "Survive", "Compete" and "Defend" himself and his family? If not your line will go as the Dodo Bird. Sad isn't it?
