There has been a lot of talk going on constantly about the importance of education as a fundamental developmental catalyst for third world countries. The premise lies in the notion that if we were effectively able to propagate basic education and hence promote the pickup of basic life skills for the people (especially the young) of these said nations, there would be a much greater potential for these better educated youths to grow up to bring their country out of poverty.
But to further expand on this notion - that the bringing of an increased level of awareness and knowledge to people spurs development. Does it not also apply generally to all peoples of all nations that a further level of understanding of how various things work works in the long haul to improve humanity's condition? Key difference being that we need to stretch beyond what we take for sufficient and push the boundaries of what we want to know.
For most it seems, the quest for knowledge ceases at their penultimate educational milestone of a university degree (which has seen it value plummet somewhat due to educational inflation, but that's another story). Do we therefore only educate ourselves to the mere extent which is necessary to enable us to be identified as having successfully overcome this gauntlet we call the education system?
I believe that educational curiosity does still exist. But somehow, it exists predominantly within a very small population of intelligentsia made up mostly of professors who swap knowledge amongst themselves through journals, conferences and whatnot. Academic style and complexity being a massive hurdle for most mere mortals who wish to read these and comprehend them in a useful fashion. These knowledge then become trapped within ivory towers of the academic elite.
So here's the idea -- what if we could have a system of propagating these new found ideas and intellectual exchanges to a more massive audience, in a simpler fashion. My belief is that the infrastructure already exists in the form of the internet so why are we not making more use of it to push more information outwards?
Hopefully, with the freer flow of ideas and information, a widespread education curiosity can be re-sparked once more.
(To be continued ... ?)
4 comments:
I agree with you. It would be useful to overcome barriers to knowledge, and make knowledge available to all. As it stands now, some knowledge (e.g medical, legal) is clearly and deliberately restricted to an elite few. In developing countries, these truly are impediments to progress. But even in developed countries, this keeps the money concentrated in the hands of the few, while the rest remain mediocre.
Hi introspectif,
Thanks for the comment :)
I guess in some respect, we do see information moving towards a more open concept like in the case of open-source textbooks, encyclopedias, and the such. Medical and Legal information has also been much more open than in the past but these are still as you mentioned rather limited to the practitioners who have been formally schooled in them.
On the flip side, you could also think that there may just be a lack of "demand" for more information. Perhaps people are content with knowing what they already know and are not seeking out new information.
But in the end, information/knowledge *is* power so its really up to oneself to seek it out. ;)
Hey, here's an article that's quite related: http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/how-the-internet-is-changing-education/
Sorry, the URL got cut off. Here it is: How the Internet is Changing Education
Post a Comment