The Purpose Of Education Is To Help Young People Flourish

Writing this on Christmas day feels a little odd, but you can only watch the kids open presents for so long. Better to be writing than to be idle.

It’s that time of the year when people write long reflections about how their year went, lessons they learnt, triumphs and successes along the way etc. I don’t want to bore you with a thousand-word essay about what 2023 was like for me, not on Christmas day. So I’ll keep this one short.

What I really want to say is this.

The purpose of education is to help young people flourish. Just because we inherited an education system designed to churn out assembly line factory workers doesn’t mean education today solely serves the purpose of making young people employable. Quite ironically, even by the employability measure, schools are doing a terrible job.

The purpose of education is to help young people flourish. Parents need to reevaluate what success for their children means. Most parents have held on to a narrow definition of success for far too long. Stop thinking in terms of money and status. Start thinking in terms of meaning, fulfilment and purpose. Life is not just about how much you have in your bank account and what title you have on your business card. It’s about going beyond your own circumstances and making a difference to somebody.

The purpose of education is to help young people flourish. Most educators’ KPIs are tied to how well their students perform in standardised tests. Educators need to be above that and see their role as developing the whole person, not simply delivering the curriculum. Educators nurture, they don’t just teach.

The purpose of education is to help young people flourish. We - parents, educators, employers, policymakers - need to push back against the tyranny of the education system we inherited and start chipping away at whatever doesn’t make sense anymore. Teaching kids through discreet disciplines, for example. Young people don’t confront problems in the real world that are neatly grouped into math, science, and English. Education needs to be interdisciplinary. A degree from a prestigious university is a signal that an individual has the discipline to follow instructions and study for standardised tests. The degree says very little about what else a young person has accomplished and is capable of.

The purpose of education is to help young people flourish. High-stakes exams are doing the exact opposite and are a major contributor to the mental health crisis amongst young people.

My wish this Christmas is that we take collective action to reimagine education and what learning looks like in the classroom. Nelson Mandela said education is the most powerful weapon which one can use to change the world. That is true, but only if done right.

We’ve been doing it all wrong for a very long time. It’s time to fix that.

Merry Xmas y’all 🎄

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