3 reasons why innovative education is the need of the hour
World’s future is created in schools. World-changing ideas, technologies, books, products and many more start in the mind of the student. However, they are just possibilities. They can’t come true until we take a step forward to bring the necessary change in the education system
Education in India, as well as around the world, is making new waves. Innovative teaching has become the buzzword. Adoption of disruptive technologies and ideologies, creative teaching methods and tools has arrived. Filling the gaps left by conventional methods has now become the need of the hour.
No one disagrees that education is the lifeblood of any country’s economy. School is where the children are transformed into the next generation of thinkers, entrepreneurs, innovators and all the great minds.
No matter how big the transformation of the education system is already happening, it’s not enough. It’s not fast enough. It’s not dedicated enough.
Why?
Maybe we’re just trying to fix the old, broken system, rather than creating a brand new one. Maybe we don’t yet agree that creativity and innovation have the equal status of literacy.
Instead of worrying why it’s not happening this way, let’s look for reasons TO DO SOMETHING about it. We need to radically rethink to make a real difference. Today, we’ve dug up deep into these issues and are presenting you the 3 alarming reasons why we terribly need innovative education.
#1 We Don’t Need The Industrial-Revolution Education System Anymore!!
Before the 19th century, there weren’t any public education systems — anywhere around the world. Then the ever-hungry industrial revolution arrived. One message went to every new youngster coming just out of school: whatever the things you liked in your school, they aren’t gonna get you a job. So, study useful subjects. (Victims: Music, dance, and any artistic aspirants)
To address the demands of the industrial revolution, the factory model education system was built to create workers for factories. At the time, that system worked just fine.
Students were the raw material. Teachers acted as the workers. And the school was the factory.
Mass education was the ingenious machine constructed by industrialism to produce the kind of adults it needed. – Alvin Toffler, American writer, futurist, and businessman
Take any industry and just imagine how it’s changed over the last 100 years. And take education and where it is still. True story, by the way!
Sir Ken Robinson, one of the most influential educationalists of this era, gave us a way: turn away from the industrial-era education system which STANDARDIZES and turn towards principles based on the agriculture. He asks to stop thinking about education as a MECHANICAL PROCESS and start thinking about it as an ORGANIC process. He notes at the end, “All you can do, like a farmer, is create the conditions under which they will begin to flourish.”
Takeaway
We all agree that our children have extraordinary capacities for innovation, in whatever they want to do and whatever they find as their passion. Therefore, let’s stop interrupting them with old teaching methods which we unintentionally took up as true and let’s give them a chance to find their uniqueness.
#2 Parents Are Finding Out: Their Child Is Unique
What’s the number one priority of the modern parent today? Bringing up great kids.
Yes, parents have big dreams for their children and want them to pursue a certain career as they grow up. (Unfortunately, sometimes at the expense of child’s yet-to-be-found dreams.) However, parents’ expectations for a radically better education for their kids have been rising exponentially.
Most of modern parents are highly educated. They understand that every child has unique needs, wants, passions, the pace of learning, possess unique strengths and weaknesses, and need a unique supporting system. They’re realizing: STANDARDIZING the system is just not gonna help.
Therefore, the majority of people are deciding to send their kids to schools where TEACHING IS CUSTOMIZED for each child’s interests and grasping abilities.
Takeaway
Now parents are looking for schools where they let their kids to questions WHY and WHY NOT. They want an environment for their kids where they start observing beyond the obvious, and where they learn through exploration and hands-on experimentation.
To achieve this, we need to create
Exciting classroom environments,
Fun- and story-based education,
Interactive learning through Audio-Visual tools
Real-world learning experiences
Puzzles and games in the curricula
And many more!
#3 Future: Educating The Next Entrepreneurial Generation
India is touted as the third largest startup ecosystem in the world. In 2017 alone, more than a thousand startups added to the already huge base of startups in India. Wait, what does it have to do with innovative education methods?
As a tradition, there’s a huge resistance from a majority of parents who are not ready to let their children pursue entrepreneurship. However, there’s a completely new line of parents who intentionally want their kids to be innovative entrepreneurs when they grow up. They want their kids to create wealth when they grow up, rather than work for someone else.
And entrepreneurship (whether innovative or not) is not like any profession.
Questioning, observation, experimentation, ability to connect the dots and networking ability — are really hard to instil in students with methods in the current education system.
To heighten the need for a change, the wave of entrepreneurship in India is on the move. Quite dynamically. If the schools can’t help kids rise with this, who will?
Takeaway
Startup India initiative, state-wise entrepreneurship initiatives, and numerous developments in the startup ecosystem are even fascinating the younger generations. If we can’t instill the entrepreneurial mindset among kids while they’re still at school, we may miss out a huge advantage. Both as individuals and as a nation altogether.
So, it’s time to take a step forward
World’s future is created in schools. World-changing ideas, technologies, books, products and many more start in the mind of the student. However, they are just possibilities. They can’t come true until we take a step forward to bring the necessary change in the education system.
Whether you’re an educator, a parent or anyone with a dream to touch the lives of other people, it’s your time.
Without innovative education methods, one can’t expect to change the way children think, act, and dream. A slow shift in the old system can’t help either. We need to disrupt the existing systems and bring out a truly huge and measurable paradigm shift.
Get in touch
Like many inspiring educators who have already making a difference, let’s build the only best for our kids. Let’s start with reshaping our learning environment. Get in touch with us now at info@verdantvista.in or call at (+91) 8618152167.
We, at Verdant Vista, envision to make schools become their truest best at what they do, by blending innovative design with scientific thinking. Let’s together build a better future for our kids and make the world a better place for all.