What would the world's GDP be if everyone on Earth could work where most talented? And how would each one's lot be if that opportunity became true? Wouldn´t it be a wealthier world? Wouldn´t all people be happier? Wouldn´t the productivity and output of each one boost?
Though this looks an Uthopian idea, it can be reached. This is what I call the Age of Aquarius (http://onknowledgesociety.blogspot.com/2011/09/age-of-aquarius.html). What excites me most is that developing humankind talents becomes under this paradigm an economic issue: development and allocation of talent are key for the development of the economy as well as business. Issue that neither capitalism nor communism nor socialism nor any “isms” have been able to perform. Allowing “the flowers to flourish”, in Ken Robinson's words, by changing education paradigms and focusing on human talent development becomes then the logical way to produce not only the people who will be able to work in a Knowledge Economy, not only the people which this new world is needing, but above all, it will help each person reach its full talent potential. Education under this concept will cover a human being as a whole, since only a fully developed person can create the full value that his or her talents can produce. It is a huge change of mentality, which comprises all the dimensions of human beings.
Under this idea, education will look absolutely different from what it is today. The main role of schools and teachers will be to discover, unravel and develop the hidden talents of their students and put them to work. This is where ICTs will play a great help. Internet will be the backbone for instruction. It will take the entire job required in education that has to do with instruction, while school will take care of human development: learning how to learn, how to connect and work with other people, how to know yourself, how to project oneself, how to contribute to the community. Codependence of all human beings on other human beings will become more apparent than ever, and we will teach our children how to grow in that environment full of opportunities.
To make that happen we need children to learn three basic things and
have access to a fourth. They need to understand,
that is, comprehend what they read, see and listen to. They need to think, that is, select the information
they need, process it and come out with something more valuable. And they need
to explain, that is, express their
output in such a way others may understand. The fourth element is the platform:
the ecosystem where all have access to the same contents, tools and
communication facilities. That is the Web and the Broad Band.
Different measuring of the three basic components in different countries show there is a big gap between developed and under developed countries as well as within the same countries between those who had access to good private schools and those who didn´t. Therefore, education as it is right now is socially discriminating and economically unable to optimize the talents present in the nation. Students should be thriving under the Knowledge Society paradigms with a knowledge-based education. That will become a necessity: an economic as well as a social one. Countries that develop and allocate their national talents will be the ones which will lead in the new society, and that should serve as a huge driver of change. Unfortunately, incumbent literal "leaders" of the world do not see this and are resilient to change their priorities. It will then be the work of new leaders to make the changes, and it is the role of those who do see this to push the message forward, no matter how scarce the attention received. It has always been the same with truly disruptive ideas.
Different measuring of the three basic components in different countries show there is a big gap between developed and under developed countries as well as within the same countries between those who had access to good private schools and those who didn´t. Therefore, education as it is right now is socially discriminating and economically unable to optimize the talents present in the nation. Students should be thriving under the Knowledge Society paradigms with a knowledge-based education. That will become a necessity: an economic as well as a social one. Countries that develop and allocate their national talents will be the ones which will lead in the new society, and that should serve as a huge driver of change. Unfortunately, incumbent literal "leaders" of the world do not see this and are resilient to change their priorities. It will then be the work of new leaders to make the changes, and it is the role of those who do see this to push the message forward, no matter how scarce the attention received. It has always been the same with truly disruptive ideas.
Alfredo Barriga
"But until leaders of the world (politicians, businessmen, and social leaders) see this, it will not happen." That is the part I disagree with. To the contrary, it is after a sufficient number of independent individuals implement change for themselves that the 'leaders' will notice -- and either follow or be replaced.
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