Last week, I came across this piece on the state of education that I wrote a while back. I watched the video again for the first time in about a year and a half, and liked it as much now as I had, then.
I liked it so much, I sent it to my Pinterest account. I don’t understand Pinterest just yet, except that I see it’s gone from zero to “Holy Cow!” in just a few months. But I’m keeping an eye on Pinterest; it represents a change in the way people act on the Internet, and that makes it a business change worth staying on top of.
But back to the video, and broken education.
Please, please, PLEASE watch this thing. I know, eleven minutes of undivided attention is a lot to ask for, and I’m on the record as saying that most businesses shouldn’t spend their resources on video production, but these guys got it right and I promise: this video is worth your time.
Sadly, and although I’m glad that our Search Engine Optimization Philosophy is borne out by how highly Google thinks we should rank when people ask the question “Is Education Broken?“, the question just isn’t being asked enough. It’s obvious that the things we teach are less important than they used to be, and yet we keep teaching them—and in the same way we have for over a century.
Why?
That’s obvious too; people resist change even on a good day, and when you say that something large and systemic needs an overhaul almost anyone’s first inclination is to “circle the wagons” and protect their status quo. I’m familiar with this in a way I don’t often talk about publicly; Answer Guy Central exists because our services at PC-VIP, which despite saving our clients lots of money and every person who’s ever heard about thinks is a great idea, are nevertheless incredibly difficult to sell—because they represent real business change.
With Broken Educational Models, as in business change, It’s all about Thought.
I may not like the way Apple does business, or their plans to dominate the textbook market, but I sure do respect their constant pushing of the envelope, business-change-wise. Old school, standard résumés are all but worthless in the Internet Age, because writing by formula doesn’t work.
And it’s OK to make half of your customers really angry.
None of those ideas are comfortable. And they all represent real business change. Because doing things the old way is more and more an unsupportable model for doing business moving forward.
Again: please watch that video. Like it on Facebook, Tweet it, Pin it, whatever; get the word out. We need business change, even more so in the way we approach education than anywhere else.
And of course, if you need help with your business change, reach me here.
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