A Parallel Education System

Would we dream of a better education system? Would we dream of a world where the mind is without fear? Would we dream of a future where children are not judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character? Would we dream of an education where knowledge and work are not separate? Rabindra Tagore, Martin Luther King, and Mahatma Gandhi put forward these dreams. When will they arrive? They probably did!

We talk about the future of education, but it makes a lot of sense to reflect on the past of education. It makes sense to question, how do we leverage the work of the past, how do we build on the knowledge of the past, to make the new. One of the biggest challenges, when you talk of reforming education, is the lack of understanding of "formal education". People think that "formal education" is about marks, grades and thus not effective. What the requires is probably a renaissance of theoretical education, where the depth of theory is understood. Where one goes beyond words, into meaning, beyond knowledge, into wisdom. Where one goes beyond memory, into networks of information, by connecting the dots.

But do we blame a cycle when the rider doesn't ride it properly? Do we blame a cooker when the cook messes up the amount of salt? Do we blame a horse since we couldn't tame it? Do we then reinvent ourself, to make better use of formal education? Well, think about it, everyone uses decimals every day, fractions every day, but how well do we understand it? Would you understand fractions as "labels for parts of a unit whole" and decimals as "labels for standardized parts of a unit whole"? Would we understand fractions as designer clothes (any size) and decimals as ready-made clothes? This rigor matters, do we take it for granted or do we learn it from the basics. We talk of practical examples, but it is more about interpretation and structural rigor than practical examples.

In India, we have been trying to convince people to seek education. In 1947, it was a challenge to convince people to come to school. The poor felt that the kids are better earning and a 15 year gestation period was probably too much to survive. But now, the problem is a little different. We have managed to get a lot of children into school, but can we raise the bar of education. Can we start by defining what education is? How many people would understand this article? Why wouldn't they understand? Why would the word "gestation" not be understood? Is it because it involves an interdisciplinary blend of biology, sociology, and maybe economics? Is it because most adults struggle to connect the dots? But isn't education about connecting the dots, as articulated by Isaac Asimov and Steve Jobs, in a different context? Can we raise the bar and convince people for DeepThought education, ahead of a DeepTech age, with AI, BlockChain, and other disruptive technologies promising a bright future? Do we then work towards talent who can ride this wave?

Well, the change had started way back in 2011. A big question was how do we reinvent the education system with the products of the old system? Well, we started with the restless ones, living on the edges, all set to escape from this system into a whole new world. We started working with young people- school students and college students. We now have about 30 college students developing an interesting curriculum, which works on established curricula like NCERT, IB, IGCSE, ICSE, to nurture Structured Thinking (McKinsey way) and Philosophical Thinking (interpretations, first principles, lateral connections) around the curriculum topics itself. When kids learn fractions, decimals, and tenses this way, wouldn't they look at the world through deep knowledge structures?

Are colleges of this country doing enough?

1- Do we teach our young people Philosophy, to humanize education, to humanize technology, as articulated by our first PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru? If IISER Pune can do it, can other institutions do it? If India could do it, can the world do it?

2- Do we teach our young people about the "age to learn" vs "age to earn"? Isn't it child labor, if one misses the gestation period, by earning before learning can stabilize? If IISER Pune could convince young people to pursue research if startup incubators can convince youth to take risks and pursue self-development, can we do it in a bigger way?

3- Do we teach our young people the dilemmas of life, in a conceptual and structured manner? Depth vs Breadth? Humility vs Boldness? Quality vs Quantity? Do we spend quality and quantity time explaining these profound dilemmas? Don't grandparents do that? Can we get formal education to do it, in a structured manner? If IISER can do it, can the other institutions also do it?

4- Do we teach our young people execution? Do we teach them how "ideas are dime a dozen" or "ideas are just 20% of the whole story" or how we can walk the talk? If startup incubators can do it, can the other institutions do it?

5- Do we teach our young people, ideas like Toyota Production system, Intel high output management, which provided a deep-rooted mindset, which brings efficiency as a way of life? Wouldn't this bring more happiness to everyone's lives, by removing stress? If Intel can offer IOPEC to its employees, can other institutions do it?

6- Do we teach young people management, so they can make better choices in life? If instincts can go wrong in so many places if management helped several companies make better choices, if McKinseys, KPMGs of the world can use it, why not teach it? Do your BBA, MBA colleges really teach it this way? With the depth of philosophy? If McKinsey can teach Structured Thinking, can other institutions do it?

7- Do we teach our young people Design? how to make observations? what is user experience? Lessons of observation, empathy, user experience from Design? Do we teach how Art can make one human, how Art can soften personality? If CEOs can learn Design Thinking, can institutions start teaching "Design as strategy"?

8- Do we teach our young people Emotional Intelligence, Conversational Intelligence, so they can foster better trust in oneself and amongst others? If these concepts are around if they can make the world a better place, can we teach them? If Daniel Goleman, Judith Glaser can do it, can we take it to more people?

9- Do we teach our young people analytical philosophy and logical thinking? Do we teach our young people how to form arguments, break arguments, and seek logic in everything? Do we also teach young people where to use trust, gut, or intuition since logic may just lead to infinite regress and halt progress? If DeBono could talk of Critical Intelligence, Creative Intelligence, their pitfalls, and how to go over them, can we scale this?

10- Do we teach our young people the power of articulation and reflection? If companies can spend millions in writing a statement that defines them, can we get young people to see the importance of using the right set of words? Can we show how articulation brings people together? How articulation makes you the voice of the voiceless? Can we show the importance of stepping back and reflecting on life? If several CEOs, teachers, researchers could do it in smaller groups, can we scale it?

As you can see, change had already begun, but this has been happening in silos. We at DeepThought EduTech ventures have been mentoring young people, teaching them these concepts and they then rebuild the education system around this.

1- Our interns go through intensive "on the job training", they learn these different concepts on the fly. The practical pinpoints of work provide context for the learning and thus they experience "bliss in learning" when the idea heals the pain. The theoretical learning provides the much-needed wisdom to deploy the best possible tools during practical execution.

2- They learn various philosophies, get exposed to different problem statements, and figure out their own solutions. They thus create "zero to one innovation" solutions - something which never existed before. Yes, we can upgrade from 1 to n (making copies) to "0 to 1" innovation, if Peter Thiel can give as articulation, we can work on the execution!

3- We now have a curriculum, not a new set of questions or methods, but added layers, missing in our textbooks, to make the same textbooks more meaningful. This was done by a set of youngsters, something which subject matter experts struggled for years, was done by 16-21-year-olds! Take that, this is the power of young people! They have changed the world, they are changing the world, they will change the world.

4- While the world is rebuilding herself, while the vaccine is being developed, while the economy is being redesigned, DeepThought EduTech ventures is bringing out a renaissance, armed with an army of young people, to bring back efficiency which was always there. DeepThought brings the humility, to endure and learn deep concepts from thought leaders and then put them into implementation. The change is here, has arrived!

5- Dhirubhai Ambani was a middle class Indian, who could challenge the hegemony of the business class, through a public issue, by getting several middle-class Indians to buy shares of his company. The middle class could grow. Now, here is DeepThought seeking the energy, time of young people, and using it to make Youth grow!

Is college more important or is the internship more important? Is the certificate more important or is learning more important? While the world is stuck within the well, here are young people who have already escaped to the tunnel, to ensure that the mind is without fear, to ensure that talent is not judged by the color of their hair, to ensure that learning and doing happen together. This is just the beginning and I'm pretty sure, DeepThought, armed by young people, by the wisdom of thought leaders, would solve many many problems of this world. This is a tribute to all the thought leaders, I apologize on behalf of all humans, we couldn't listen, we couldn't read enough of you, but now the change has arrived. We are immortalizing you and more importantly ensuring that your life brings a difference, even after your death and this single point inspires a whole new idea of human existence!