The Future of Education

Education isn’t what it used to be. The idea of being educated—able to read and write, know historical timelines, speak in more than one language, understand the basics of math and science, and reach outside family and cultural settings—was usually limited to the wealthy and powerful. Today’s technology has put a universe of information systems into nearly everyone’s hands. So, what impact does this have on our education systems?

Technology affects everything.

Through the eighties and nineties, I taught in public and private schools, continuing an age-old practice of standardized learning. Books and papers, references, libraries, and lectures were the building blocks of teaching kids in a classroom tethered to the local school for six to seven hours of the day. It wasn’t the best of systems, but for some, it worked well. At least, it created a setting where learning could take place. The fact that children had to sit still for hours at a time, the child-to-adult ratio was often twenty or more to one, and the environment was only as positive as the teacher’s spirit, meant that many children were ushered through a process that did little for their self-esteem, personal vision, or creative spirits. Ask C. S. Lewis. His dim view of standardized education blazes across his stories like an avenging angel.

I never considered homeschooling until I was teaching at Wood River, IL, and was pregnant with my first child. The school principal, a man I came to admire, homeschooled his children with the assistance of his wife. That fact spoke volumes. Once I had children of my own and a fairly wide breadth of educational settings to look back upon, I realized I didn’t want to systemize my children. Education could mean a whole lot more.

Individualizing education to fit each child while offering a broad base of learning experiences became the bedrock of my homeschool. I wanted to do more than fill my kids’ brains with information; I wanted to offer them life skills, a world of fresh possibilities, new perspectives, and, of course, the nuts and bolts of standardized education. They learned to read and write. Print and handwriting skills mattered. Spelling, no matter how unreasonable, reflected a larger world in which particular preferences gave way to uniformity for the sake of clear meaning. The logic of mathematical building blocks offered not only the reason for linear thinking but also the framework for understanding the various sciences in our world.

Though the information age was expanding, the basics were much the same. What changed for us in the homeschooling setting was the opportunity to make learning specific and meaningful. We read such a wide variety of books, fiction and non-fiction, that reading became a lifelong conduit to the outer world. Reading also meant pleasure, a happy place where minds and spirits could rest in an enchanted world or explore a well-ordered text. In much the same way, writing wasn’t based on prompts that had nothing to do with our daily lives or were so mind-numbing and boring that a child felt ridiculous responding honestly. Starting slow and building from the base of what kids know has always been a helpful stairway for us. And so, it was with each subject. There was so much to discover and such a variety of ways to learn that the possibilities were nearly endless.

One of the hardest parts of modern education is getting over the idea that everyone of a certain age needs to know the same things. No two children process information the same. They can’t help but see everything from their unique perspective. Rather than seeing that as a problem, the sheer variety of views should be considered an educational high point, offering the world new insights, answers, solutions, and dreams.

While teaching adult GED, I have run into new standardized roadblocks, very similar to the ACT standardized testing system, which, thankfully, some universities have deleted from their entrance requirements. One of my students is physically handicapped. To accomplish the standardized GED Math test, he must explain every step to an assistant who attempts to follow his directions, solve the problem, and hit the correct button on the computer before the clock runs out.

When I tried to explain the heightened difficulty my student faced trying to complete the test, the GED board gave him the assistant to tap the answers in place, since his hands don’t work so well, and extended the time limit. My student can only sit upright for a certain amount of time before he must deal with unpredictable seizures. His eyesight is weak, his speech a little blurred, and he is wheelchair-bound. But his mind works wonders. I stand back amazed at how deftly he maneuvers through technological systems and learns things. We have spent months and made four attempts to pass the GED Math test. In his last attempt, he fell short by only three points. From my experience tutoring him, I am well aware that he has learned high school math far better than average. The test is a roadblock that doesn’t reflect his knowledge or abilities.

If the test were shortened, surveying the math spectrum with fewer questions, he would have a better chance of navigating through and getting a passing score. Part of me wonders why this standardized roadblock is even necessary. As a home-schooling mother who directed my kids through grade school and high school into college, where three have gone on to earn higher degrees, three are in various stages of earning their degrees, and all have maintained high scores, I appreciate the trust that allowed me to move them forward without so many systemized roadblocks. Is there a way that a trusted teacher could evaluate a GED student and, after a dedicated period, recommend him or her to the next educational step or graduation of a particular step? A personal approach can offer far more hope than an insensitive system.

No one can know all the information available today. The influence of AI on our education system is a problematic influence that we must take into consideration as well. Modern education isn’t about gaining knowledge through online resources and writing organized rebuttals to particular positions, it demands the navigational expertise of a skier during an avalanche or a surfer in a full-blown hurricane. We can’t afford to hold good minds back because they can’t climb over a particular roadblock that has no meaning in their lives. Kids need to run and jump and explore the world physically, mentally, and emotionally. Less time spent sitting and more time spent experiencing their world in close collaboration with a caring, trusted adult would go a long way toward preparing the next generation for a future that no one can predict but we must face. We have crafted artificial intelligence to such a degree that it’s practically ready to take over the world. Let’s hope our kids will shape a world worth keeping.

A. K. Frailey is the author of 18 books, a teacher for 35 years, and a homeschooling mother of eight.
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