Education: An Old System in a New World
A few (passionate) thoughts on traditional education and technology
School isn’t perfect—but I think this system can also be easily misunderstood.
It wasn’t until Covid first hit last year that I realized that learning doesn’t have to suck, and in a way, this changed everything for me.
With all that free time, I began exploring the internet for new knowledge. As my curiosity grew, I stumbled across some new thinkers and ideas that changed my thinking completely.
My mindset began to shift away from pursuing grades (and towards growth), and it started feeling like school maybe wasn’t as necessary as I’d always thought.
So when it comes to this bigger system of education, I’ve got lots of thoughts—and here I’ll try breaking down most of them simply.
Technology…we’ve come pretty damn far
The past 150 years are filled with some crazy technological revolutions—but at the beginning of these, the traditional ideas from the past had their clear impacts on the future.
Some quick examples:
In 1896, the first hybrid car was invented (but it didn’t look too much like a car):
From there, we somehow got to here…
Before anyone could imagine an airplane or helicopter, we thought that flying must require the wings of a bird:
When the internet came along in the 80s and 90s, it was WAY different than the internet we know today. The internet was mainly just the traditional newspapers, magazines, and books of the past thrown directly online… (aka ‘web 1.0’)
So I think it’s a natural tendency for us to carry the ideas we had from the past into the future’s technologies — with a bit of a “creativity lag” — but it’s the fresh and original ideas that are native to (and designed for) these newer technologies that typically have the edge going forward.
The “new world” we’re living in:
Over the past 20 years, this world has changed in many ways through one trend: dematerialization.
→ This simply means the transformation of things from the physical world into the digital world.
Jim O’Shaughnessy puts it well when he says that “time, space and geography are collapsing”.
In other words, new technology = the ability to do more with less; whether it be with time, money, space, or energy.
Some examples:
Music: From live music to vinyl records, then tapes → CDs → mp3s → streaming services.
Commerce: Amazon is now “the everything store” because of one idea: they took shopping and dematerialized the brick and mortar retail system—providing it to anyone on the internet.
Social: When it comes to communication, we no longer need to meet face to face (physically) just to talk, thanks to the internet.
“The Social Network” did a good job telling the story of Facebook and why this new idea changed everything…I recommend it
Money/assets: This one’s tricky to explain briefly, but blockchain is the new technology that enables secure forms of digital scarcity (and therefore digital value) to not only ‘dematerialize’ money, but also utilize a network that’s open, trust-less and decentralized—unlike traditional systems (including the centralized banks) that have held power for centuries.
With all the cool possibilities of ‘web 3.0’ and crypto (ex: Bitcoin), blockchain isn’t going away soon…and I’ll stop ranting now haha
Learning (arguably the most important one): When you’ve got a tricky question, where do you go for the right answer? For most of us, it’s often either Google or YouTube.
In terms of learning, the internet is the best tool humanity has ever had.
So this should change basically everything…but why hasn’t it, really?
The traditional school system
When it comes to the traditional education system, it seems like we’re still basically stuck in the Industrial Age (or at least with those same core principles).
At that time, schools were designed to crank out productive workers that could run the institutions, industries, and bureaucracies of the past.
Not only did the standard type of job look much different, but information and the means of learning were nothing like what we’ve got today…
In a way, schools were the gatekeepers of information.
Information is now abundant, but curiosity and the general desire to learn is basically nowhere.
To speak for myself, school is basically the antidote to intellectual curiosity.
“Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind” — Plato
So what could change?
Imagine a world where we’ve just now decided to create a standard education system from scratch:
→ With the internet and all of its perks, would it still make sense to build the same huge lecture halls, expensive textbooks, and physical buildings for each class?
To be clear, substituting the same exact classes onto zoom (like how it went with Covid) is not what I mean at all by ‘dematerializing education’.
→ If you compared zoom lectures to the whole world of online shopping/commerce, this would basically be like saying that anyone can shop online—but ONLY if it’s for your hometown stores (and not with any of your other favorites in the world).
→ Put simply, this problem is just another symptom of an old system in a new world.
Why settle for average in a world where the best is also available? (and often way less expensive?) Learning has been completely transformed.
New systems often beat old systems (in a new world)
In new eras of technology, old systems (like education) that are slow/resistant to change will often struggle and become antiquated or obsolete.
→ Just think about Blockbuster, Kodak, and Barnes & Nobel.
In the Information Age, digital natives have a unique advantage; they’ve got the ability to adopt a fresh and new playbook that optimizes for the new world.
→ A digital native = any system that was designed originally for the digital world—not the physical/analog world (ex: CrashCourse…compared to MIT lectures online)
When a system’s capacity to change is confined by old beliefs and narratives, then progress is also confined (and often prevented altogether).
Covid example (#2): Zooms tend to display the same traditional (and non-digital native) lectures as before…but if you actually tried to find better alternatives on Youtube, you could almost always find them easily.
So what about a new alternative for this old system? I think it’s time for digitally native systems that optimize for a) valuable learning and b) engagement (that’s not forced artificially through unhealthy s**t like grades).
Not only should these systems be digitally native, but they should also be open — therefore promoting progress — instead of closed (as a system) to healthy competition.
→ Side note: this dynamic is pretty similar to the whole world of crypto and web3 (open-source) vs. legacy banks and web2 (more closed-source & suboptimal for users).
Some new alternatives to traditional school: Synthesis and Primer—where tools like online games and collaborative communities can unlock new skillsets and knowledge that aren’t gained traditionally.
Recap:
The old system: Traditional education was (obviously) designed for a previous world.
New technology: Thanks to newer technology (and notably this trend of dematerialization), learning can be vastly improved.
Stagnation: Traditional ideas continue to win out in a stagnant system that’s barely changed in centuries. (for many reasons)
The new system and better future: Sooner or later, education will need to open up and embrace new technology to improve.
That’s it—thanks for reading!
I’m still just scratching the surface and there’s a lot more to unpack…but like always, please reach out if you’ve got any thoughts. Appreciate all feedback :)
Until next time,
— Jack
And happy new year! 🍾
Another great newsletter! Love the way you’re thinking. Very logical and enlightening! Enjoy Spain and I’m looking forward to your next newsletter