The way adolescents were learning pre-pandemic, changed more in the past 20 years than in the previous 570 since Gutenberg’s popularization of the printing press. Similarly, to put things in retrospect the way adolescents are learning now has changed more in the past year than in the previous 20 years.
Let me present a comparative analogy, post-USSR-disintegration an overnight phenomenon took place which was known as “shock therapy”, shock therapy was an economic theory put to practice during which there was a dramatic rather sudden change to convert the state-controlled economies into a free market economy; as a result, the currency inflated and the GDP declined.
But people tend to ignore the fact that the same shock therapy brought long term benefits and put an end to an economic structure that was eventually never going to survive; it brought a more stable structure and a modern economy. This disintegration acted as a catalyst. Some nations adapted and thrived, while others initially did not but with time everyone saw a change for the better.
What I’m trying to explain is that this revolutionary educational reform seen throughout the world was nothing less than “shock therapy”. In a single month, this education reform unleashed a virtual gusher of information to the plugged-in human brain in a way never seen before.
The irony is that all of us knew that such changes were going to come; the conventional classroom education was going to change. What we didn’t expect was this gradual change to be so sudden. This pandemic acted as a catalyst and voila, what we have now is a new educational structure that is not only working but is also thriving. Students who have access to the appropriate technology are retaining more in lesser time.
I recognize the people who are unable to access such technology and what I realize is that any appropriate provision for such students is time and capital extensive. Some gradual changes that will help underprivileged students can be opening up completely online schools which will lead to a reduction of tuition fees and rather than buying books, paying for travel and other amenities the parents can invest the same capital into appropriate technology. (The price of which will fall due to higher production and government subsidies)
Some students might take time to settle in but eventually, they will thrive and together will take a step towards the evolution of education.