Athena and The Learning Zeitgeist

As an educator, I am bewildered by the self-perpetuated, yet increasingly archaic and delusional notion that governments, politicians, civil servants, examination boards, school inspectorates and other state-funded bodies are really in control of our young people’s futures.  

When I was at school in England, every child learnt about the great Lord Shaftesbury, the nineteenth-century politician credited with doing more than any other for children’s rights, laying the foundations for getting the working classes out of the factories and into classrooms. He was way ahead of the zeitgeist – a true reformer.  Whilst acknowledging the efforts of a handful of politicians in the developing world to work similar miracles, and the genuine, positive intentions of some in the developed world to improve education, few are likely to become the new Shaftesbury.  Meanwhile, our children remain one big political football, suffering at the whims of successive governments, staffed by unqualified politicians.

Neither our children, nor their teachers, are going to put up with this for much longer.  As politicians continue to ignore the real educational zeitgeist leaders, such as Sir Ken Robinson, Professor Sugata Mitra and Marc Prensky, teachers and school leaders are, increasingly, kicking off the revolution.  I am constantly in awe of teachers around the world, who continue to innovate with the flow of the zeitgeist, doing what’s best for their students, often in risky defiance of indoctrinated overlords, inspectors and policy-makers.  Thankfully, these hardy souls, the committed sardines, are being supported by the EdTech revolution, which is about to get very interesting indeed…  

Around ten years ago, the late, great science-fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke, introduced us to ‘Athena’, a sentient artificial intelligence surrounding the Earth, who performed, amongst other tasks, the function of providing a ubiquitous ‘Search Engine’ for every human being on the planet. Clarke’s ‘Time’s Eye’ trilogy was set in 2037.  In January 2015, Elon Musk announced plans to build a satellite network that would deliver high-speed Internet to every inch of the globe, empowering the masses to access the sum of all human learning.  He is building Clarke’s Athena, Version 1.0, and is, effectively, positioned to become the 21^st Century’s Lord Shaftesbury, by empowering the masses to get educated.  In Clarke’s trilogy, when the Earth is threatened by malevolent aliens, it is Athena who ultimately saves the planet and the human race.  Ironically, this could turn out to be far more than just science-fiction. 

The question is often asked:  “What will be the role of teachers, when their students are all connected?”  I believe they will be empowered to love their work once more, freed from obsolete national curricula, standards and state interference.  Great teachers, nurturing the talents of every individual student, supported by unlimited connectivity and access to devices, will flourish as they lead future generations to achieve their dreams.  Children who currently have no access to education will be connected by Musk’s ‘Athena’ to teachers (or mentors) and content from around the world, taking Professor Mitra’s Self Organized Learning Environments to a whole new level.  

Get this right, and there will be no more talk of standards. No role for politicians to concern themselves with what they think the economy needs.  Just great learning and a fresh, self-fulfilled young generation, ready to build a new global era of harmony and peace.   A world without borders, perhaps?

The idea that scientists and teachers, and not politicians, will save the world, fills me with awe – and I’m optimistic.  Not least because those vested, self-serving interests, intent on maintaining the status quo or pushing their own political agenda, are running out of cards to play.  Soon, they could find themselves out of the game altogether.