Courtesy of my satellite TV service I’ve just been watching Google CEO-Youth Connect live on Indian news channel Times Now. Google CEO Sundar Pichai was addressing students at the Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. In front of a large audience including teachers and students from local schools, Harsha Bhogle was moderating a stream of questions from the audience, on video and online. You can follow some of the interaction on Twitter hashtag #AskSundar.
One of the best questions came from the Principal of Ami Public School in Burari, Delhi – I couldn’t quite catch her name but it might have been Malini Narayanan. She was worried about what we should be teaching our kids so they can compete in today’s environment – how do we adapt ourselves to become future ready, what skills and techniques do our children need to learn? She asked:
“How do we get the edge?”
I loved and totally agree with Sundar’s three part answer for how we prepare to solve the next generation of problems. His first ingredient was worrying that there was too much emphasis in the education system on the rigorous academic process and values versus creativity. He said:
“Creativity is an important attribute, encouraging more creativity through the education system.”
Next he referred to what the best schools in the US do which is:
“Experiential, very hands on, people learn how to do things by doing them, not just by learning about them”
Lastly, he raised the massive point around the fear of failure. He said we should:
“Teach students to take risks, make sure the system doesn’t penalise for you to take risks.”
- Creativity
- Learning by doing
- Encourage taking risks
All of our education systems need to dedicate more time and emphasis to these three great maxims if we are to prepare the next generation to handle the current rate of change, emerging technologies, and the disruptive business and political landscape they are creating.
Photo on Twitter from India Today