Education

For those of you who aren't (or aren't yet) out dancing around the May Pole, let me tell you why education is not the same as schooling. It's all very simple actually.

Schooling prepares you for certainty. Schooled people are skilled people. You know what is, therefore you know what to do, for every problem, you know the answer. We always have all the answers. Just listen around. There is no shortage of allegedly smart people who have the answers. And these answers are very often implemented, and nine times out of ten, they fail. Why? Because the issues involved are uncertain, and certainty is no match for uncertainty. Uncertainty wins every time.

Education is all about preparing you for uncertainty. You don't learn answers, you learn how to question. You don't learn facts, you learn to think and analyze, to formulate problems is such a way that possible solutions can be found. You don't know for sure, you know how to try. You know things may not work out as expected, and you're willing to change direction as soon as that becomes clear that it's needed.

Education is about openness, but most importantly it is about wisdom. It is enabling individuals to not only know but learn. To learn from others, to learn from books, to learn from experimentation, to learn from experience. Education is about knowledge, not information. It is about competences, not just skills.

But, education demands courage. Courage to be different. Courage to tolerate difference. Courage to think differently. Courage to accept challenges to one's own thinking. And that's what we have so little of these days. Always take the safe path, make sure you don't rock the boat, conform, don't draw attention to yourself. In short, be afraid ... of the "bad" grade you might get, of your teacher, your boss, anyone in authority, of the police, of the government, or that you might lose your job.

And that's why we don't educate anyone anymore ... we're simply too afraid.