Is the new formula, education ≠ knowledge?

"We can continue to fail our kids, where they either drop out of a rotten school system, or graduate not knowing much. Or we can completely change our system of how kids can obtain knowledge. We can do it better and cheaper, where kids will thrive, and not just wither away."     

Question: What is a huge waste of money? Maybe education? Do you know that in 2022, the graduation rate in Minneapolis was only 77%? And that persistent "gap" is still there. With 37% of all students in Minneapolis being minorities, that means that 37% of the students have a graduation rate of less than 77%. Here is the kicker. The taxpayers spend (according to Alpha News) around $26K/year to educate students in the Minneapolis School District. That is about twice as high as the statewide average.

Right about now, some reading this article might have steam coming out of their ears. "What is the problem, Bird? Hate kids? Want them to be dumb all their lives?" Absolutely not. I want all to be knowledgeable. Many just cannot get knowledgeable sitting in the Minneapolis failure factories. But then, if not in the public school system, where in the world can young ones obtain knowledge? To that I answer, look around. Knowledge, real knowledge, is everywhere. Especially today, with our technology.

School is a waste of time and money for thousands of kids. It wastes their time, and our money. If a kid decides he or she does not want to learn, there is no way to force them. And if I may be truthful, many schools are prepping students to thrive in yesterday's world. We need to teach them how to thrive in tomorrow's world. And tomorrow's world is not a long way off - it will be here literally tomorrow. 

Years ago, when I worked at the Control Data Corporation, they developed an education system called Plato. It was their belief at the time, that all education could eventually be obtained by computer-based learning. In fact, they used the employees as kind of "Guinee pigs" - we had to take all our employee development training on Plato. That type of a system could still work today. 

Here is the bottom line, and I have beat this drum before. The way I was educated in the fifties and sixties does not work well anymore. The reasons are too numerous to go into right now but suffice it to say the paradigm has changed. We need a complete reclama of our education system. Make it voluntary instead of mandatory - only mandatory through the 8th grade. In those first eight years of schooling, kids will learn how to learn using technology. After 8th grade, these kids will have the skills necessary to self-educate. 

But what about knowledge? When these kids sit down at a computer, they literally have the world at their fingertips. And now with the advent of AI, knowledge comes in faster and in a better format. No more going to the library and using the Dewy Decimal system - now everything they need to know is right there, on their computer, coming to them at the speed of light.

One final thought. Six years from now, in 2030, our world will look and act much differently. Our young folks need to know how to use critical thinking skills and how to be nimble - how to accept change. Most importantly, they need to be curious. With that curiosity, should come a hungry mind. With a hungry mind, comes knowledge. 

We can continue to fail our kids, where they either drop out of a rotten school system, or graduate not knowing much. Or we can completely change our system of how kids can obtain knowledge. We can do it better and cheaper, where kids will thrive, and not just wither away.