That is why we go to school for, I believe. “But how effective the current education system is regarding this matter,” I asked myself. This is what has been in my mind for a while, and professor Negroponte triggered my thoughts in his today’s lecture. “We eliminate poverty by educating people,” he said. What this means is that the traditional way of education, to build schools and train more teachers, does not work in poor countries due to lack of resources and budget. In a move to fight poverty and increase the level of education in poor countries he launched a project called “One Laptop per Child,” and that is to design, manufacture, and distribute a laptop, which costs only $100, among all children in poor countries. I am not going to talk about the details of the project, but those who are interested can educate themselves about this project here. After all, what I am thinking about is today’s education standard and established education system in developed countries.

Thousands of years ago humans learned reading and writing, and that became the standard for good living, farther in time schools developed up till a century ago in which a high school diploma became the leading degree in education, later an associate degree and finally a bachelors’ degree. But the education was not limited thus one could pursue farther degrees in master degree and philosophical doctorate. Today’s standards are a little higher such that good companies are looking for graduates with at least a master’s degree. But why the standard became higher? The reason is simple; we do not learn what is considered to be cutting edge in bachelor degree programs any more. Unfortunately, the programs are organized such that they focus of basic fundamentals rather focusing on teaching cutting edge material. I am not saying skipping fundamentals is good rather I believe it is hurtful, but there is no room for it in universities any more, and it slows down the education process for those who are willing to pursue it faster.

One of the main drawbacks of the current education system is its slow phase. Most people do not have a career goal during college and proceed based on the available options. This is a problem that most schools do not help minds to get shaped around an interesting subject, so student would focus on what they really like rather taking repetitive general education courses to fill up credits.
Now assuming that the problem above is solved, but what if a master degree was not enough and the standard increased up to doctorate degree? And what if doctorate and post doctorate activities were not enough? Where can you continue education?

The answer is by learning to learn one can learn for a lifetime with no limit. Saying that the career goal was not clear for a person during college but it can be defined after college. The mystery remains is what should you learn? And the answer goals back to one’s career goal. So, we see that this is a circular problem and by solving one with another, we will remain on the same page. However, I see a solution and that is to engage children in learning from early ages so that by the time they become a teenager, they have finite goal in their lives, and $100 laptop can be a tool to boost the speed of learning. By the time students get to college, they can focus on more specific courses rather taking general education in hopes of discovering their interest during the latter two years.

Some families may see this as an overwhelming standard, but the reality is that what is holding back some American families from proceeding with normal life is the lack of education in early ages. This means that if kids engage in learning activities since early ages, they will stay away from crime, drugs, and other bad decisions which are normally caused by anomalies in families or boredom.
In conclusion, the traditional education system is not a global solution to educate people; rather it is a limited solution for a limited population of people. We should engage more technology in learning during high school ages to boost the process of learning fundamentals and focus of subject interests during college. After all, this is all engaging the concept of “learn learning.”