What is education? How should look modern education?

Over the past couple of years, the network has a large number of articles on how to "hack" higher education. Different arguments are given: from the specific shortcomings of the modern education system to the examples of entrepreneurs who were able to succeed without having a "HSE". But the question remains unanswered: "is it worth studying in a world where information is available in 1 click on a smartphone?»

I've noticed for a long time that when you're at a critical point, you're rethinking your values and asking fundamental questions. One of these fundamental questions for me in 2018 was: "what is education?"and what it should be like. Higher education is the jumping point. When you are 17-19 years old, you are at the start. The further you jump in the next 5-7 years, the further you go. That is why these important years are devoted to education.

Unfortunately, the current trend of higher education is moving towards pragmatics. Students require to be taught skills that " will help in life." Because really, why learn calculus, where do you want them to use in life? To say this is the same as to say: "Why do I do push-UPS in Boxing training? Where I in fight will do push-UPS?".

Most likely, you will not calculate the integrals at work exactly as you will not do push-UPS in the ring. But the essence of Universities is not to give practical knowledge. It's about building a Foundation. Without this Foundation, you will not be able to gain practical skills. Otherwise, you risk becoming an Android with a set of practical skills without understanding their essence.

Higher education is about building an intellectual Foundation.

I am very sad to hear from my peers that they go to universities in order to "get out of the army." Until you understand why you need an education, don't do it. There is no adequate reason why you should go straight to COLLEGE after school. I experienced it myself and clearly understand that I needed a year or two to exhale, look around and understand what I want to do next.

Is it worth studying?

The short answer is: definitely. Today, the need for education is greater than it has ever been. Most recently, people lived in a paradigm: to learn, to work, to retire. It's not working today. It is necessary to study all life. But this does not mean that you have to get 3-4 higher and spend 30 years sweating in front of textbooks.

The UNIVERSITY is not a panacea. The generation of people born in 19922000 is the generation of experimenters. We try, we break stereotypes and we differently look at things habitual in society. And that's how it should be. The world will not move forward if the young do not try. There is no written law according to which every person should go the same way. Roads a million and you decide which one to choose. As long as it's yours.

There are a huge number of projects abroad that motivate young people not to go to UNIVERSITY, but to do interesting things for them. One of the most famous: Thiel's Fellowship of Peter Thiel. This is a 2-year program for young entrepreneurs who want to send everyone to the direction known to the Russian people and do their business.

We all scare childhood scary words "IMTIHON" or "TEST" and say that this is the only way to success in life. Imposing the importance of these standards, we are driven into the "matrix": in a fake, artificial and fictional (not us!) world. It is possible and necessary to study, but it can be done differently.

What is the main skill of the 21st century?

I completely disagree with the popular devalue "Universities" — that "everything can be googled." Fact: 90% of the information in the world (if you count in KB) appeared in the last 3 years. But the abundance of information is an illusion. Google is full of paid articles (called the fashionable word "content marketing"), and useful information does not always go into detail. Information like a lot, but it is all the food at McDonalds. Primary sources are few.

You really shouldn't cram. The world is moving forward and no one says that it is necessary to remember all the facts of history and in what costume Sergei Penkin spoke. But cram was not necessary never is the stereotype of the Soviet way of thinking. It is much more important to understand the essence, internal mechanics and the Foundation of the processes. Moreover: it is important to know what to Google. The task of modern man: to learn how to ask the right questions.

When there is a lot of information (albeit not always of high quality), it is necessary to learn how to work with it competently. But because an important skill of the 21st century is the ability to work with information. Trim the bullshit from what really matters.

All practical skills are algorithms. So they can be coded and let the machines do the work. In 15-20 years, most of the things we used to do with our hands will be done by robots.

In the 21st century, it is important to develop emotional intelligence: to be able to communicate with people, organize teams, motivate people and lead to the goal. This is something that is not taught in modern Universities and what everyone comes to on their own.

Because of the gap between the fast-developing world and the institution called "Education", the task of every modern person is to learn on their own.

The meta-skill of the 21st century is learning how to learn. Here we come to the most interesting part of the article: how modern education should look like.

What should modern education look like? Having refused any games I made to myself the program of actions. All this was made personally by me and my teacher — and therefore it is interesting and easy for me to study. With this approach, there is no question of discipline. You yourself have made yourself the program, and thus moonlight is lying to yourself.

After almost 2 years on this program, that's what I understood:

• 1.    Education must be individual . It should be yours and yours alone. Choosing an education is as intimate a thing as choosing a girl or a wife. And because I do not understand why everyone should go on the beaten path. These are all fairy tales of industrial society.

• 2.    Education should not be compulsory . It is indisputably necessary to study, but for this people should have freedom of choice. When a student does not sing "Hello sky in the clouds, Hello youth in boots" — it does not motivate him. Motivation must come from within, from outside artificially you can not create it.

• 3.    Education should be Omni-channel . I do not believe that innovative inventions can "kill" something that has been built for centuries. Rather, there should be synergy. Value in face-to-face lectures when the lecturer is reading from a book is equal to 0. The same thing should soon appear in traditional education systems: we will listen to lectures at home and discuss in classes.

• 4.    Finally, education must be different. The world is beautiful in its diversity. It is very powerful to find relationships between different areas — it contributes to the development of creative thinking and makes you holistic as a person. That is why in my program there is a block of fundamental reading of classical literature.

The state was invented in the 18th century, education was invented a little earlier by Catholics, and money 5000 years ago. We now have so many interesting and new things: from uber to Bitcoin, and therefore there is no reason to continue to use the mechanisms of 200-300 years ago. Need to try new.

Answering the main question of this article: what is education? definitely worth it. But first you need to define what the word "education"means to you. The answer to this question will take some time, maybe several years. And there is nothing wrong with that — because there is no hurry.