Is our Education System Insane?
Albert Einstein is attributed with a famous quote about insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
While Einstein wasn’t an educational philosopher, his notion is relevant when looking at how our current educational system does or does not prepare students to live in a collaborative, rapidly evolving world. This quote reminds me of the challenge of the current educational system to both provide a quality education for all students, while simultaneously developing deeper, more nuanced interdisciplinary understanding within our students so that we have individuals ready to face the interdisciplinary problems (such as poverty, climate change, etc.) of our time.
To achieve this outcome, learning systems will need to develop the capability of applying insights from cognitive science about how brains actually work, while simultaneously informing teachers, parents, principals, and policy makers about the necessity of appropriately incorporating insights from cognition, neuroscience and biology research into their classes, homes, and communities.
With an eye towards applying these findings in real life practice, I have been involved with a variety of projects that intentionally design learning environments to promote interdisciplinary understanding. This is not an easy task, as truly interdisciplinary work requires an awareness of the mental models and epistemological foundations that pervade ones mind. Given the complexity of these issues, how can we incorporate effective interdisciplinary learning into educational and organizational learning so that we can create the yet unseen tools to enable current and future generations to address the dilemmas of their time?
Some fascinating work is providing a hint of how and where such opportunities may arise. I am a big fan of the Interdisciplinary Studies Project, as this research group is focusing upon demystifying the components of quality interdisciplinary education. Their research looks at the MIT Media Lab, which may be the pre-eminent interdisciplinary work group in the world. While not a comprehensive answer, their work is identifying trends for in successful and expert interdisciplinary work: purposefully integrating disciplines while maintaining rigorous standards for conducting expert work while applying disciplinary tools.
A program that I’ve been fortunate to have some contact with is the Three Degrees Project, housed at the University of Washington Law School. I am keen on this project because they are undertaking truly interdisciplinary studies–simultaneously developing real solutions to help impacted communities adapt to the impacts of climate change while managing a group process to ensure all participants productively collaborate. Given the trend of collaboration emerging in our world, and especially amongst younger generations, I wonder if achieving quality interdisciplinary work will be easier for a generation who is steeped in working across boundaries?
While there is no silver bullet for creating interdisciplinary insights, there do appear to be some traits that appear time and time again in effective interdisciplinary work—the ability to learn about a topic while simultaneously learning how to manage a complex, tension filled group process (more on interdisciplinary learning and work later), as well as a shift in perspective about knowledge being absolute to knowledge
Given that the 21st century is loaded with opportunities to demonstrate expertise with interdisciplinary work (a.k.a. make headway with massive 21st century dilemmas like poverty, climate change, educational access, etc.), how have you taken steps to improve your capacity for being involved in this tough work?
Three Degrees, which is comprised of 25 graduate students from 15 different departments at the University of Washington, is researching how communities in the high-Andean regions of Ecuador will adapt to glacier retreat. At the completion of the 5-month seminar the graduate students will create climate adaptation assessments focusing upon 5-issue areas: health, food & water, security, equity, and justice. Currently, the seminar is in its first phase as pilot project.
