I read Guy Standing’s short essay on education in Monocle’s Issue #195. I have mixed thoughts about Guy’s arguments.
I think the introduction explains the whole article well:
The acquisition of knowledge is becoming more commodified, seen as a way of filling gaps in the workforce. But for a society to thrive, it needs to remember how to value learning.
I understand that education previously aimed to teach people how to think (influenced by thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau). This focus has been decreasing over time, shifting the main purpose of education to fulfilling industry’s needs. Humanity is increasingly abandoning critical thinking from multiple angles (e.g., AI is also nudging people to think less). People think less and follow what’s given to them, hand over their judgment because they don’t have the right mental tools to think clearly in different situations. I share the worries.
However, this doesn’t mean we change the whole education system to teach people how to think better, as in the old days. The old days were different in many ways. In less industrialised, less connected, less automated work, many educated people were able to master multiple fields because the fields were not that deep. These days, education is about teaching multiple subjects at an “enough level” so that people can find their next steps easily. Becoming more industry-oriented, from K12 to universities, is better because it gives people time to think and learn.
With education focusing on filling the gaps in the workforce, it reduces the stress and worry about survival in the modern world. More money might not bring happiness beyond a certain threshold, but most people must first earn enough to cross it, and education is one way to do so (not the only way). In the end, education can give people the freedom to think.
Thinking must be a side activity of work. The action of doing something teaches and gives someone a chance, while equipping them with tools to think better allows them to get better at the action they are doing (and also helps assign a value to it). From my perspective, the university must teach both, but the main focus should remain on building skills for the future. The more jobs we can fill and the more income people can earn, the more time they will have for learning how to think. There is no need to go back to “good-old-days.” First comfort, then wondering.
