Education II

Today, Tuesday 8th of September 2009 President Obama addressed school children including my youngest (a 10th Grader) with a message that created so much controversy. Dogmatic people who felt that government is interfering in their life, parents who are scared that the President will instill socialist dogma in their children within 10 minutes and parents who want to delude themselves that they can protect their children from the big bad world instead of preparing them to face it. However, it is every parent's prerogative to ensure his child is raised the way he wants.

The White House have put Obama's remarks on the White House web site 24 hours ahead so parents could rest assured of what is the message. http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/

So what was that potentially scared all these parents, a universal message that not only applies to the USA but to every child in every country.

"Every single one of you has something to offer" and it is your responsibility to discover your potential, and whatever it is you want to achieve will require an EDUCATION.

"If you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country. " Certainly, the children are the future of this world and of every country on this planet.

"......people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time." Yes, learn from your mistakes, try harder and ask for help from your parents and your teachers or your peers. In management people are taught to celebrate failure because this is the mechanism for learning and continuous improvement.

This is not socialism this is social responsibility.

Every country requires a revamping of its existing education systems, although in varying degrees, but the education system depends on its end users the SCHOOL CHILDREN, the most important stake holder in the system which everyone seems to discount.

Education

Almost everybody in almost every country complains of the level of Education our children are getting. We tend to compare them with what we had when we where in school. However, life has changed and technology is so far developed, that it boggles the mind of most my generation.

The impact of technology especially Computers and their applications have transformed the way we do business. What has not transformed is our education systems and more importantly those who are supposed to run and administer them.

There is a generational gap which is aggravated by a greater technology gap. How do we expect our children to be ready for the world and embrace and deal with the diversity and speed that characterises the modern world.

I remember, when I was young having a Pen Pal, we used to correspond by mail, it took weeks.

Now you don't need to even need to e-mail them any more, our children can have a real time chat with them, follow their news and activities on a variety of social media applications.

Hours of doing research at the library is replaced by seconds on google, my favorite phrase is "google it" and children are doing just that. It opens a universe we have never dreamt off even in our wildest dreams.

So, we have young men and women who grew with technology and its associated speed and diversity having to deal with parents and bosses who are totally oblivious and are not even willing to deal with technology. They in turn, and this is where the tragedy lies, have to deal with Education System(s) that are barely acknowledging computers and their applications.

Most governments pay lip service to modernising their curricula and they way they educate and teach. Then they wonder why we are producing young men and women who are disgruntled, unhappy and sometimes radicalised.

As parents we bear part of the responsibility by not forcing Education as an overriding issue. It is the future of nations lie there. It is an issue of national security, without healthy and well educated future generations, external threats become irrelevant for the internal issues are more disturbing. I am not advocting that nations, God forbid stop defense spending, but at least let us look rationally at our Education System(s) and fix them.