Some thoughts about Education in the New Era

Recently, I have read some books like 0 to 1; Principles and Work; and I have watched to the talk of Dr. Joe Dispenza; the BBC documentary Blue Planet and so on, these all lead me to rethink about the role of education for the young generation, that the traditional educational model seems no longer satisfy the need for innovation, creation and invention for the new era, which are crucial to balance the ecology, ethnographic, social and humanity chaos and exploitation of the world. The education for new era should enable people to be mindful and to reflect on their default mode of beliefs, thoughts and behaviors on one hand, and realize their distinctive potentials on the other hand.

Mindfulness, or in other words, the reflection of unconscious mind is particularly important as most of our behaviors and reactions are based on our thoughts and beliefs, which have been formulated under the influence of family and social environment throughout the growing period. As Dr. Joe Dispenza points out that after 35 years an individual performs like a computer with default programs which have been set by memorizations of genes, neurons and cells in body and mind. These thoughts, beliefs and automatic behaviors have constructed the personality which will ultimately create the personal reality. The mind is so powerful that we can rely on it to create the future if we can reflect on the unconsciousness, make our own choices and decide how to react and behave differently rather than driven by the default settings of old memories. Thus, the mindfulness should be incorporated in the education system not only for students but also for teachers and parents to reflect and be critical about their own unchecked thoughts, beliefs and automatic reactions as well as behaviors.

Apart from the mindfulness, the differences and distinction of individual students should also be taken into account that not all students are born to be academically oriented. However, in some contexts where the school culture is highly examination-oriented, students with low scores are categorized as intelligent, not hard-working and not capable learners. This can lead to the low self-esteem, loss in self confidence and loss of interest in learning of these students, who might be excellent in spheres other than academic subjects. Some initiatives to encourage the potential creativeness to be realized not waiting for completing the traditional schooling have been taken recent years; for instance, the project ’20 under 20’ of Peter Thiel has provided the funds to youth under 20 years old with potential successful business ideas and inventions. The traditional schooling has been questioned that how to keep up with the innovative pace of the world and create more freedom and space for the diversities talents of students.

To conclude, the education in this new era is facing the change and innovation the same as other traditional industries, and more attention are required to be paid on exploring and discovering the potential creativeness as well as wisdom of the human.