The Untapped Wisdom Of The Next Generation - September 20

What if, instead of cramming facts for exams, young people were invited to solve real problems in our world?
In today’s 5 Minutes in Nature, Liz reflects on a different way of unlocking the potential of our youngsters—seeing them not just as students, but as creative problem-solvers. She wonders: could our young people be one of the greatest untapped resources for addressing the challenges we face today?

Transcript

Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott. Gosh it's a little bit grey and drizzly today. I'm walking down a lane and I'm clomping down this lane in Wellington boots and I haven't got my thick socks on so my feet are swimming around in these Wellington boots. They're just a little bit too big for me and I'm dodging the rain. I'm sheltering under trees as I walk down the lane hoping that maybe the rain will break in a minute and we can have just a little bit of dry. And as I'm walking down the lane I'm actually reflecting on our young people. My nephew is 16 this year and he's at a significant age at school where he's going to be having some exams and it's quite a big part of the youngster and their academic life. These exams that are coming up for him they'll come up next year and I've always been slightly troubled by the exam system. I say slightly troubled because whilst I understand it's got a purpose and it's it's helpful to bring young people to a point of learning and researching and discovery and then having a reason to do that is an exam where you're you're sort of focusing your attention. The bit that troubles me is that I wonder if actually we're utilising and harnessing the potential of our young people in a way that maybe is best. And this point was really clarified for me as I was listening to an interview with the man who invented the World Wide Web. Now he's a British man. He's Sir Tim Berners-Lee and he made the internet and the World Wide Web free for everybody. He didn't want to become a multi-millionaire as a result. He just made it available for people. So he's an older man now and extraordinary that he had the vision and capacity to see what was possible. But one of the questions that he was asked and he answered and it was a little bit in passing but it really made me reflect. He was asked about the internet and young people and one of the comments that he made was a reflection that wouldn't it be great if young people today weren't measured or tested on the knowledge that they could remember. But what about if they were tested on their ability to solve problems? And then he went on to expand because he wasn't talking about problems like maths problems or knotty problems that you might set in an exam. He said what about if they were coming up with innovative ideas around solving problems around the climate or around poverty or around world hunger or peace. He was pointing to young people being actively encouraged to consider these bigger wider challenges that we face as a society and to start imagining and being creative around the solutions. And I think that's the first time in a long time that I've become quite excited about the what if. You know what if rather than testing our young people on remembering information which let's face it with the advent of the World Wide Web is very easy to access. We don't need to remember information in the way that we used to because we can rely on this almost bottomless pit of information that we can access through the World Wide Web. So what rather than testing young people on that what if we also expanded it to test them on how they might come up with solutions to some of the major challenges in our world. What would it be like if they started to work collectively in the same way that they collectively work on games that they engage with and teaming up with people and connecting with people as they already do across the web. What if part of what they did was to channel that energy into considering how they we as a society might meet the challenges that the world faces. What would that be like. So that was my reflection today and I'd be curious to know what your thoughts are on that. But I guess in essence is are we actually reaping the potential of our young people as we might. Is there a way we could channel their energies so that the whole of society could benefit.

Reviews

I LOVE this. How can we make it happen. My sphere of influence is clear-my three young grandchildren. 🙏🏻🩵

I think that's a far better use of memory/ideas than trying to remember facts simply to pass an exam. I have a very poor short term memory and so for me, exams were always an ordeal as my results never lived up to the work I produced on a regular basis. I would have much preferred to be part of a group seeking solutions and suggestions for everyday problems than worrying if I'd got my facts right to pass my exams!

I heard that interview, too Liz .what a wise and thoughtful man he is firstly in giving us such a wonderful gift in the WWW and now encouraging us to use it properly in the way it was intended.