Modern education is a threat to the survival of mankind
This article by Dr Piotr Wozniak is part of SuperMemo Guru series on memory, learning, creativity, and problem solving.
Is education a way to a brighter future?
We tend to think that education is the key to wisdom, and smart minds are our best chance for survival. It is true that one genius mind, like that of Elon Musk, may decide the future of mankind. However, Elon hated school and our modern education system is largely undermining our chances of spawning more Musks. This is a direct threat to our chances for survival.
Dr Peter Sterling on human evolution
Dr Peter Sterling, Professor of Neuroscience at Perelman School of Medicine, obtained his degree in medicine from Cornell before I was even born. In a recent gripping paper for eLife, he summarized his take on the evolution of mankind from its microbial origins to the present state of uncertainty.
Sterling's core thesis is that modern life shrinks the diversity of reward and drives a positive feedback for higher reward from low surprisal stimuli:
What happens when the abundance, comfort, and social isolation of modern life shrink the sources of positive surprise required by our ancient circuit to deliver its reinforcing pulse of dopamine? According to computational theories of reward learning, the system is compelled to seek reinforcement from their intensification (Sutton and Barto, 1998). Thus the main source of positive surprise becomes "more". In predicting a Mac, the next surprise must be a Big Mac, and then a Whopper
Sterling who continues his research "on a farm in western Panamá" puts a finger on the core issue that I see overlooked by many, but not all, of my smartest colleagues:
In "controlling nature", we shrink the rewards that accompany relief from its small discomforts
In conclusion, Sterling provides a couple of prescriptions, of which changing the education system is listed first. I believe he did not emphasize his point strongly enough. Let me then spell it in capitals:
Inexhaustible resource: human learn drive
The shrinking supply of better-than-predicted reward can be reversed if we mine the inexhaustible resource of human quest to understand the reality. The learn drive powers our actions in researching our surroundings. It is inexhaustible, because memory stability is perpetually eroded by forgetting. This does not imply that the process is circular and wasteful. The brain keeps getting transformed, and is driven by the force of intelligence. We keep learning and we keep getting smarter, and the process provides the reward.
This process can only end if the brain, social brain, or AI brain reaches the epiphany of perfection, which Hawkins would call the "mind of God". The brain at the final stage of its evolution would answer the ultimate question of scientific axiology: the nature of absolute value. That point of ultimate nouse is nowhere to be seen on the horizon.
Schools counteract evolution and undermine the future
Smart brains will determine our survival. In the meantime, schooling is a perfect force working in the opposite direction. By coercing incoherent knowledge on input, by fake reward of grades, and by penalties of withdrawal, schools systematically decondition the learn drive reward, and generate learned helplessness. The end product is society rich in helpless humans who scream for rescue. We will have more Trumps and more Brexits, if we continue on the present path.
Most of teachers I know are aware of the problems and try to build friendly atmosphere at school. But they cannot stop the force of curriculum and the international pressure (cf. PISA). The bar keeps getting raised, and the power of induced helplessness keeps increasing. There are some winners, but losing becomes more painful, and more destructive.
Desperate pupils are an illustration of how we undermine the key forces that can come to rescue when mankind meets trouble: the learn drive, and the exploratory learning algorithm.
In conclusion to his paper, Dr Sterling agrees. He opposes the homogenization of learning:
A community of experts can easily outcompete a community where everyone is the same
Future is bright
I am optimistic. I see the growing resistance in the young generation. The resistance helps kid survive in the system. As it keeps growing, the resistance will also help abolish the system of compulsory schooling. Passive schooling must go the way of the mammoth. It must be relegated to history like we relegated slavery (see: Education as a human right). Schools might survive in some kind of democratic form that would foster free learning. We must employ brain's adaptability for the young generation to adapt to the new world.