Is our education system broken?

Is our education system broken? Not exactly – it's that our brains are operating in an environment they weren't designed for. The 21st century isn't less intelligent; they're intelligent in different ways.They can spot patterns quickly and adapt to new technology easily. But we're losing the ability for sustained deep thinking that drove major innovations in the past.

Actually, this topic started at ULTRA.VC demo day where I had a great edtech roundtable alongside Yury Shlahanau , Laura Cesaro and others, where we came to the conclusion that the problem is not the lack of resources/money but the old teaching methodologies being used by teachers to teach the new generation of students. 

Perhaps, there are more factors we must take into consideration. Let’s dive into this complex but fascinating topic.

In order to understand today’s daily life and learning environment, let’s go back to the years of most inventions (40s - 90s) and understand how people used to live and learn and their daily routine. Here are some of the most important factors: 

• Sustained focus: One book, one task at a time, long periods of deep concentration.
• Natural creativity: Boredom was a gateway to innovation
• Strong memory: Mental calculations and navigation were daily exercises
• Quality sleep: 9+ hours with natural light cycles
• Consuming around: ~50 pages of daily information
• Community learning: Face-to-face interactions built strong social bonds
• Long-term thinking: Patience and delayed gratification were the norm
• Slower pace of life

It gets even more interesting, exploring daily’s life and learning environment from the new generation 21st century:

• Modern brains are constantly switching between tasks
• Instant gratification culture
• Information overload: Processing 34 GB of data daily
• Shallow thinking: Quick answers over deep understanding
• Reduced boredom tolerance
• Easy access to others' ideas
• Average 6.8 hours sleep
• Reduced mental calculation, memorizations
• Decreased ability to handle boredom (crucial for creativity)

Key differences: Now, we sleep 2.2 hours less, consume 34 GB of data daily, we’re impatient to work for long-term gratification but want things today and now and of course can’t tolerate being bored and let our brain on diffusion mode to explore and look for genius solutions, which leads to intolerance to have deep focus, students can’t barely focus ½ hours straight. It's a totally different world we’re living in today. 

We're seeing a fundamental shift in how human brains process and create information. The constant stimulation and information flow might be creating a generation that's better at quick pattern recognition but potentially weaker in deep analytical thinking. We might need to actively design "cognitive preservation spaces" in education - environments that temporarily recreate the focused, low-stimulation conditions of the past to develop these crucial mental capabilities.

Attention is our biggest asset that everyone is trying to take a bite. Real example: 10-year-old daughter wakes up watching TikTok or perhaps browsing the internet before going to school, she probably already consumed 10x times more information that our brain can process then on breaks TikTok then after school TikTok again. What do you think is happening in this little girl’s brain?

I believe we're facing a crucial moment in cognitive evolution. While technology offers unprecedented access to information, it's simultaneously reshaping our ability to process and create new knowledge. The solution isn't to abandon technology but to develop a more intentional relationship with it. The key is finding a balance between leveraging technology's benefits while preserving our capacity for deep, original thinking.

We need to:

• Recognize attention as a finite resource
• Design educational systems that protect and cultivate deep thinking
• Create environments that support both focused and diffuse modes of thinking
• Teach students to manage their cognitive resources actively
• Implement mandatory periods of deep work in education
• Teach the neuroscience of attention to students
• Develop assessment methods that value depth over speed
• Create technology-use protocols based on cognitive science

If you ask me, how would I change education for the better. These are the important points I’d focus on: 

New Educational Approaches:

• Implement "digital fasting" periods in education
• Teach focused attention as a core skill
• Develop metacognitive awareness in students
• Create technology-free learning spaces

Teaching Strategies:

• Incorporate mindfulness and concentration training
• Balance digital and analog learning methods
• Design curriculum around attention management
• Create "deep work" periods in schools

Brain Research Priorities:

• Study neuroplasticity changes from digital media exposure
• Research attention restoration techniques
• Investigate long-term effects of multitasking
• Examine social media's impact on creative thinking  

My mission with Prendi is beyond learning a new language but combining cognitive science, artificial intelligence and proven learning techniques that would make you smarter while you learn a new language. We aim to be the #1 most efficient language platform in the world. Interested in trying out? Join 210+ people on the waiting list.