Fred Wilson on Disruption

Education could use some disruption. But, I remember quite often kids at my school talking about the futility of learning subject X. I want to be Y, and I'll never use subject X. It always bugged me when I heard that. I knew I wanted to be a software developer when I grew up, but it turns out writing well and having excellent communication skills make the real difference in my line of work. At the time, had I thought the way my peers thought, I don't think I would have made good choices about my education. Let's be honest kids, on a whole, aren't known for making great choices.

On the flip side I think getting kids interested in a single subject, and allowing them to go deep within that subject at their own choosing could spark them to get interested in other subjects. But, where's the balance? There are some basic things kids need to learn.

The problem is with education is that if you pick a poor model for educating you're affecting people's lives for a very long time. Poor choices made at the early levels have life changing impact. Do it incorrectly and you can hurt the potential of people later on down the road. And, I think there in lies the true chance for disruption. How can we change the system so it's more forgiving for poor choices?

The disruption that's already happening is getting adults back to school. The trade school side of education is already doing this in a significant way. Phoenix, Strayer, ITT Tech, etc are all disruptive tech. They are targeting a segment that typical university systems are ignoring. They are also teaching very practical subjects, or subjects not offered by the big 4 year institutions. It's less based on research and more on practical knowledge. But, by going up the value chain they could really change the face of higher education. But, what if everyone continued to go to school through out their lifetime? A big question is what is proper certification? If everything is a-la-carte how do you certify someone? Should that be set of the educators or industry?

Now fast forward to Business Week's recent head line stating 3 Million job openings during this recession, but they can't be filled due to lack of skilled applicants. There in lies the real reason to get adults engaged in lifetime education. The more fluid we can make the workforce the faster we can recover from these down turns, and the more employable people will be moving forward. If you're not going to be employed in one field for 40 years make sure you can work in many different fields.