What does GenZ want from education? We, educators, might have made a mistake about what GenZ really wants from education, and we might have made a terrible mistake! What they want from education is answers! Answers that will help them figure out why there is so much polarisation in the world, why nations are fighting each other, why Covid happened, and why society is pushing them into a rat race. Why can't we let them be and give them an education that will help them figure out what they want from life? When I read a poem titled 'Keeping Quiet' by Pablo Neruda and switched off all the lights in class, and reduced the speed of the fans, the whole class went quiet! It was a sublime moment and intentionally contrived in order to make them understand how keeping quiet can help them meditate, introspect, and get to terms with their inner selves. This is what GenZ wants from education the means to help them understand their purpose in life, to take a break from a hectic and stressful life, and to be calm and peaceful in their minds. They want to be changemakers, and social activists and to be more responsible stakeholders who can be given the responsibility of mending and undoing the wrongs done by their predecessors.
Education has to be a support system a system that provides our students a nurturing environment that provides a feeling of security, safety and calmness. Unfortunately, the race for marks, rank, merit and excellence has made education a virtual battleground where mental well-being, emotional health, social relations and spirituality are destroyed. If it is not about marks in board exams, then it is all about acing the college entrance exams. Parents enroll their children in coaching centres to prepare them for entrance exams as early as grade 7! Education has literally taken away their childhood and their innocence. A typical school day begins with students yawning in class because they had to stay up all night, completing their work. By half time they are already zoned out. Then they rush home and get ready for the coaching centre. They return home at 8:0' clock, have a quick bite and then it is back to completing their assignments and homework. Most of our students might not afford a paid seat in a foreign university so their only hope is to get admission to a decent college at home. The only way they can get admission to a good college is by acing the entrance exams whether it is CUET, JEE, CLAT, NEET, SAT, GMAT, LSAT, AP,...etc. If the only purpose of education is to prepare a student for admission to a prestigious college in the country or abroad then we have failed, miserably.
The true purpose of education is to provide learners with an environment where they can learn life skills, be better human beings, and be responsible global citizens. Moreover, if our students have to take coaching classes for entrance exams then it means that the education that we provide them in school is simply inadequate! The lack of standardization in assessments at the board level has necessitated the need for further assessments. If the only purpose of education is assessments, assessments and more assessments, then it means that we have failed in preparing our students for life. Or, perhaps the noble purpose of education has been hijacked by coaching centres, assessment bodies, and organizations that want to take a share of the huge sums of money that parents would like to spend on their children. Is it society that is to blame for the chaos that has crept into our system of education, or is it the coaching centres and the assessment bodies? Is it the teachers who are to blame or is it the parents? Is it even our students who are to blame or is it the entire system? Have we even listened to our children and tried to find out what it is that they want from education?
In this confusion of not knowing what it is that GenZ wants from education, it is, unfortunately, the students who suffer the most. The true gainers from this chaos are the coaching centres and entrance assessment bodies. The lament of not knowing what to do after school rings loud everywhere. Some students are smart enough to have their career paths chalked out for them, but others are as confused as fish stuck on trees. The advent of AI, ChatGPT, the pandemic, and the lack of global security have all changed the meaning of education for everyone. Almost two years of lockdown highlighted the need for an understanding of mental health-related issues. The growing polarization between people of different religious beliefs has highlighted the need for tolerance and inclusion. The prospect of a nuclear war, a fallout of the war between Russia and Ukraine has highlighted the need to develop a more mature and rational approach towards problems in life. These are the things that we need to teach our children and students in schools and colleges.
Education has not moved with the times and somehow this is why AI and technology might soon rule our lives (That is as long as we have electricity and energy to drive them). We have not been smart enough in planning a future where survival will be more important than passing an entrance exam, a time when family relations will be more important than attendance in a coaching centre, and a time when mindful eating will be more important than eating for energy. What would happen if there were no power or internet? AI would barely survive, our machines would stop working and we would have to use our own feet for transportation.
We are simply not educating our students to think out of the box! An example of this emerged in a recent scenario where students were divided into crews and told to devise strategies for surviving on a deserted island for twenty days. They were given a list of items to use for their survival. One crew came up with the idea of using a bucket to catch fish, and another crew decided to kill a camel for its meat. The third crew decided to catch or feed wild animals dry fruits. A boy in yet another crew asked me if the Axe in the list of items referred to the Deodorant.
