Elegant Solutions

There are many problems that our education systems currently globally face. One big problem is that we're unable to come up with elegant solutions to them. We try using duct tape instead of actually fixing the problems. So here are some suggestions as elegant solutions.

Problem 1 - Lack of education

There are currently about 120 million children out-of-school according to UNESCO report. In the first world countries these children probably attend to some alternative education, like homeschooling, unschooling or some other unregistered means of basic education, so there's no real problem there. The problem is mainly focused on developing countries and third world countries.

As I stated in my earlier blog writing, there are many problems related to modern education, and maybe we shouldn't keep on pouring money into it anymore. With the modern information technology the schools have become obsolete. So what would be an elegant solution?

Basically, quit funding schools and give the money directly to the children.

In modern societies with modern technology the children don't need no education, they can educate themselves. What if instead of pouring our money to the inefficient schools, we gave the money directly to the children? Children would show their knowledge of reading, writing and some other basic knowledge that the local government sees necessary for successful citizenship. After all, the aim of the schools should be to produce well functioning and participating citizens, who maintain or develop a peaceful and productive society.

In Finland the government pays approximately 6 000 euros per student per year to the school which provides the education for that child. The mandatory elementary school lasts usually nine years, which makes the total amount of money given to a school 54 000 euros. If you gave that amount directly to a child which proves the knowledge, I think that would be enough incentive to motivate any child to learn the basic knowledge. You could even make the scale progressive so that the better you achieve the more money you get. This same solution could be used also in developing countries, where the money would of course be less, but the incentive and motivation might be even greater.

Of course this solution would create some other problems. The function of the schools isn't just to educate, but also to take care, keep track of and to "store" the children in a safe place while the adults are working. There are several elegant solutions to solve this problem depending on the situation. In many cases the children could be taken to the adults working places and the children could figure out things to do together there, while also learning about the professions of their parents. In many cases one of the parents is not working so the children could stay at home, and in most cases in the neighborhood there are at least some adults who are not working or are working from home, so they could take care of the children. Also the current daycares could take older children to help out with the younger ones.

Problem 2 - What problem?

Actually, the solution above would practically solve all the other problems of modern education, because it would cease to exist... :) If you think this solution creates some other problems (and I'm sure it would), please comment below.

Problems Promoting Schools

How promoting schools and schooling can be harmful for children?

The international campaigning site Avaaz recently released a campaign promoting schools for everyone. The idea that children shouldn't be lef out of schools because of political, social or religious reasons is totally acceptable, but the fact that schools themselves are not necessary very good places for children is not discussed.

Here's my response to the Avaaz campaigners.

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Hello lovely Avaaz people,

I would love to sign this petition about schools for every child, but there are couple of fundamental problems with this petition, or more clearly, with schools and schooling.

1) The quality of schools in general around the world is terrible.

2) The quality of learning in schools is terrible almost everywhere including western countries.

3) The concept of schooling is flawed in its roots. Children don't need schooling, they need support, love, care and someone to help them learn the things they need.

4) Schools are formed as industrial factories, producing or conditioning people who are easily controlled by the ruling power.

5) In western countries this is leading to situations where e.g. homeschooling is illegal and people who don't want to send their children to schools because of the reasons above, are fined or in worst cases jailed and their children taken into custody, even though the family could provide a healthy, safe and good educational environment to their child. This is happening e.g. in Germany, Sweden and Spain.

6) Schools are often used to manipulate children with propaganda, especially in totalitarian countries. This is very clear in countries like China and now it's becoming more clear in Russia. This happens a lot in the U.S.A also, where the day is started by pledging to the flag.

7) Schools are used as means of oppression, especially in countries with language minorities, where the teaching language is other than the native language of the students. In many cases the students are not allowed to speak in their native language in school.

8) In many countries corporal punishment is still used openly in schools, including modern countries like New Zealand.

So instead of promoting schools and schooling, I would suggest promoting high quality educational possibilities for everyone, making the problems with modern education more visible.

I'm happy to discuss this further. I've been involved in alternative education movements for more than 20 years and currently run an alternative online school in Finland.

Thanks for your hard work and dedication!

Love,

Marko Koskinen
School in Development Association
Phoenix School Online
Finland