Evolving Education

An interesting read on the evolution of education analyzing where we started:

In terms of human evolution, formal education arrived quite late to the party. For millennia, young Homo sapiens essentially educated themselves: They observed, they imitated, they played, they tried, and they erred. The world around them was their classroom.

And where we got stuck:

The model changed remarkably little over the centuries. Curiosity and play were out, discipline was in. Desks were in straight rows, bolted to the floor, in boxy classrooms with a teacher calling the shots. The instructor instructed, and the students listened. The day was long and likely tedious, just as the days to come in the fields or factories or at domestic duties would be.

Maybe we need to start the cycle over again and see if we can’t get it right this time.