Our Robotic Education

It's Not Suitable For Thinking Humans

Our education system is so funny that people who got A+ and some 100% for grade 12 Mathematics did so without knowing the meaning of Algebra or other concepts. I'm afraid that if you were to ask the top Math student from the class of 2021, he/she may not know the answer or at least explain what is Algebra in layman's terms. Laymen, in this case, are just like the "intelligent men". So is practising Maths the best method to learn it?

Robotic education! I think that's how we are being educated. That is, fill in the damn checklist with what I told you. I define robotic education as a method of teaching individuals that fosters process conformity, repetitive work, and reduced thinking due to a lack of incentives. This education style has a lot of Taylorism in it. It was meant for people to get the work/job done, not to think, innovate, discover, or invent. Just like machines/robots are programmed, maybe that's why the qualifications are also called programmes, like computer programs. A computer program is a piece of coded instructions uploaded into a computer system as inputs to produce a predetermined/desired output. However, machine learning or artificial intelligence puts a twist on this by providing machines with the capability to learn through iteration and repetition and reinforcing the learning through rewards.

A robot (physical) is an electro-mechanical device designed and programmed to perform a repetitive task(s) such as packaging Black Label bottles. The reason for the title of this post is that I see our education system as being robotic. That is, I teach you 1+1=3, and then I will test you to see if you can regurgitate it back to me. If you do so successfully, you get full marks. If you don't remember, then you get low marks or zero. This is Taylorism of the education of people. In the 20th century, our education was actually based on the production line, and in SA, on mining. This learning method does not promote or even prove an individual's intelligence. It is an eat this and regurgitate. Don't think about what you are eating; just eat, and make sure you regurgitate. The biggest sin made by teachers that mostly had a bad end is teachers telling learners that they are smart, intelligent, or smarter than everyone in the class. People then grow up with this mentality and take it wherever they go. To some extent, It's perilous. Like they say, the fancier your education, the more likely you are to talk about the things to know nothing about. Look! I'm talking about education even though I am not an expert.

This form of education is very good at creating the best employees in areas that require one to follow best practices and repetitive work like production operations. It's perfect for this kind of environment. For innovative and futuristic settings, it just does not work. Maybe this is why we have little innovation in our country. This form of education is also very good at producing compliant people who never want to get in trouble with the law. Imagine Mark Zuckerberg waiting for Congress to enact social media laws and regulations; we wouldn't have Meta (formerly Facebook) today. Innovation requires us to test the limits. Then we have guys like Norman Finklestein. If you rebel against this indoctrinating robotic education system, you will be ostracized (Cast out, and you and your work will never be acknowledged). Only the people will acknowledge you.

It seems like our education will get more robotic given the kids' "TikTok" attention span and the emotions of "Alexandra the Great" in the metaverse. This type of education makes it very difficult to make concepts stick in people's heads. Mastery learning and the Feynman technique seem like the best way to educate the next generation. Of course, this will require teachers who are masters of their field and can give context to how the lessons fit into an individual's daily life (now and future). If this is not communicated, we risk continuing with this undesirable situation of checklist education, that is, learning for reasons other than learning. This is prevalent with people getting qualifications hoping to strike it rich. This result in people passing education but education failing them. You can pass the tests with the best grades (A+), but then education fails you. What do I mean? Education failing you is when it fails to improve your thinking patterns, language, behaviour, and perspectives. 

On Education and Jobs. Don't get me wrong, robotic education has worked in a way. The youth should not despair when they have degrees but are struggling to find jobs. Of course, we are all born entrepreneurs, but not everyone should start a business. Degrees are in some way a long-term strategy. Not getting a job this year or next year does not mean you will never get a degree-type job. I call degrees "unemployment insurance". The essential/basic cover is a Matric certificate or NDip, and the mid cover is a Bachelor/Honors/BTech degree. The comprehensive cover is a Master's degree, and the ultimate cover is a PhD. But in SA at the moment, the ultimate cover is an overkill. We need more overkills. With this in mind, I'm sure you understand why people get MBAs. It's all about the insurance. How insured are you? While on this topic, work experience is what I call "good behaviour". This gets rewarded by employers as part of the whole insurance scheme.

Back to my critique! Cramming (In Xitsonga = Ku Mandzela) is the enemy of learning. People passed the top of their class through cramming and cross lighting. I'm guilty of cramming too. A few things about me while I'm confessing. I have never wanted to get A's. I admired and still admire those who got A's. I have always focused my attention on subjects I found/find enjoyable, Science and Mathematics. The rest were just tagging along. I passed them well but never really cared much. Their purpose or "why" was just never well communicated to me. I mean, I went to a public school in a dusty village with big potholes inside the classroom and broken windows without heaters or aircon; what do you expect?

Furthermore, I have never crossed a night in my life ever since I started going to school. I've always gone with consistent work since I was young. I believe that when you are always ready, you don't gotta get ready. Lastly, I never studied in groups (I tried one time while doing matric). Even in varsity, I minded my own business. I finished my degrees with not so bad grades and records. I never liked robotic or highly-systematic education or check list education.

Looking ahead with modern technologies, I think going to a brick and mortar is just for the certificate, not learning/knowledge. There are free eBooks, videos, software, and cheap hardware for people to equip themselves with valuable skills. Virtual classrooms have been a hit during the Covid-19 pandemic and showed the disparities between cities ad villages. However, with internet connectivity and cheap data arriving at villages, I believe the game is about to change. Modern technologies are tools, and some of us as villagers should make sure that village kids use these tools for education and skills development than for pure entertainment.

In summary, we need an education system that promotes thinking, aligned with future development, and PhDs that brings the love of wisdom back into the Doctorate. Also, we need more PhDs.