Formal education as it is carried out currently involves people sitting in a lecture or class room. There is value for this, as face to face interaction between the learner and the teacher is very important. But in most cases, this advantage is not exploited. Teachers dictate notes, lecturers lecture and in most cases, this is mere transfer of theory and abstract knowledge from the teacher to the learner.
This is in contrast with the old apprenticeship model that gave us luminaries such as Michael Faraday, Isaac Watts, Humphrey Davy, and Benjamin Franklin. Is it not a testament to the failure of the modern system that we don’t have such original thinking and inventiveness in the world? In the real world, in cases where apprenticeship is still working, the success is highly visible. Think of countries like Switzerland (the world’s bank and most stable economy), where a huge percentage of their education is apprenticeship like.
Technology is evolving very fast, but teaching has remained conventionally the same. If someone, say, Albert Einstein, was to resurrect today, they would only notice and understand one thing, the class room. They would be flabbergasted by the gains we have gained technology-wise. Yet the classroom remains the same as it was 100 years ago.
Current education and learning surely disincentives the teacher and the lecturer. There’s no way to hold teachers accountable when their students fail in class and in life. Some concerning individuals have started online “rate my lecturer” or “rate my teacher” services, but these surely haven’t solved the main issue. Teachers and lectures are mostly tenured and it is not easy to motivate them based on such systems. The only sure way is to ensure teachers and lecturers have a true skin in the game. If they fail or are sloppy in their work, the repercussions have to be ready and instant.
What if we used technology to reverse this trend? What if we have education on-demand services, coaching on demand, tutoring on demand?
We propose a system that allows learners to get access to real teachers depending on demand, location and time.
So, if a student wants to be coached on calculus, they would only need to log in to the system, and activate their location and they shall be able to access tutors within their location? The system shall have a rating service where learners must rate the teachers or coaches based on their real-life teaching experience and interaction with them! So, only the best tutors shall prevail. Teachers will have skin in the game and they will have to be committed! This is a version of the old apprenticeship model when the teacher or technician interacts directly with the learner.
If you want to learn guitar or painting, you shall get a real-life, experienced guitarist or painter to guide you on the nitty-gritty of the art they are specialists in!
Teachers and learners shall be vetted thoroughly to make sure there shall be no security breaches. Learning can occur at any premise of their choice! At the learner’s house or the teacher’s house!
Whether we are the one to do this or not, in a few years’ time, this model shall come to pass.
Reader, shall you have a say on this matter, kindly comment or email us. We are looking for a way forward to implement this model.
