A Deeper Look - Issue #4 | Feb 1 2021
Education and Wonder, Global Risk and A Gentleman in Moscow
Hello Friends,
Conversations about education during the COVID-19 pandemic have been caught up in debates around missed class time, health and safety considerations, increased inequality and access to education as well as the transition to forms of online and hybrid learning. Reports tend to emphasise how many hours of in-class instruction have been lost", how many months students have fallen behind, and how much they will have to “catch up.” The tendency has been to view education through a lens of acquisition - today I would like to focus on education and the role of inspiration.
I also had the privilege of listening to an online lecture this week on the topic of “looking past crisis.” The speaker elegantly articulated the importance of looking at crises with a bifocal approach, with one eye turned to meeting the need and responding to demands of the present, but with another eye that looks ahead, beyond the crisis and how we should anticipate and position ourselves in the future. With this in mind I thought it would be good to highlight the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report for 2021. and while it is terrifying reading it also makes for essential reading.
In the midst of darkness it is natural to look for light at the end of the tunnel, in the middle of a storm it is natural to seek the refuge of calm waters, but there is always another possibility - be it an even longer tunnel, or a more turbulent storm.
What Should Schools Do to Promote Wonder? - Oxford Review of Education
A recent article by the Oxford Review of Education explores the topic of wonder in education and the school system. Having worked in the education world there is a tendency to get caught up in questions of “how much content have we covered?” or “how much have you learned?” The article points out that the culture of the societies in which we live is one of accumulation and acquisition, and to an extent the world of education mirrors this focus: “at a systemic level, Western education… is currently governed by the logic of accumulation (acquiring more and more knowledge and skills), rather than transformation.” In this culture of accumulation, what role does wonder play?
“Wonder is part and parcel of learning to understand the difference between ‘what you don’t know, what you only think you know, and what you cannot know or understand….wonder makes us aware of the contingency of the existing ways to understand or do things, stimulates our imagination and helps us to see alternative possibilities.”
The article then provides some practical suggestions for the cultivation of wonder at the level of the teacher, at the level of curriculum, and at the level of the school.
Teachers, the article argues must embody pedagogical tact in that they “must recognise and facilitate the child’s experience of wonder.” This entails both vulnerability and and engagement. It entails an aspect of vulnerability because it means putting oneself at the boundaries of what one knows, an admission that there is an unknown. A vulnerability that is also demonstrative of a capacity for intellectual humility. It creates engagement because facilitating wonder also entails a different way of perceiving students:
“To wonder at the child – which is a deeper experience than, for example, mere curiosity about how they ‘function’, or perceiving the child as an empty barrel to be filled with knowledge, or not being interested in the particular child at all – offers a possibility for real engagement, because ‘wonder reveals things [and people] in a new light and tends to promote mindful and gentle regard for their inherent worth”
There are also a variety of pedagogical tools that can be employed to cultivate this aspect of wonder, those of exploration, improvisation, imagination, and personal interest.
These tools will be familiar to all teachers, but it a nice reminder to read that in a time of constant anxiety, pressure and uncertainty the ability to inspire, to cultivate wonder, intellectual humility, passion, interest and a love for knowledge remains paramount.
The Global Risks Report 2021 - World Economic Forum
The COVID-19 pandemic has attuned human focus to the concept of crisis and risk. We look forward to the time when this crisis will pass, to what we hope will be brighter days. Yet there is the unpleasant reality that another crisis lurks on the horizon. What are these crises? What must we be prepared for how do we prepare ourselves for what may occur? The WEF’s Risk Report provides an excellent summary well worth reading:
Among the highest likelihood risks of the next ten years are extreme weather, climate action failure and human-led environmental damage; as well as digital power concentration, digital inequality and cybersecurity failure. Among the highest impact risks of the next decade, infectious diseases are in the top spot, followed by climate action failure and other environmental risks; as well as weapons of mass destruction, livelihood crises, debt crises and IT infrastructure breakdown.
Global Risk Horizon (0-2 Years)
What I found especially frightening was the last section of the report entitled Foresight on Frontier Risks which highlights potential future risks that while less known would have an enormous impact. While these read like plot-lines to science fiction movies real world events have reinforced just how every likely these scenarios are. These include:
Anarchic Uprising: The risk that an anarchic uprising will disrupt social order and cause mass chaos.
Exploitation of Brain-Machine Interface: The risk that mind-reading technology will be exploited for commercial gain and used to extract data from individuals. The rise of startups and enterprises like Elon Musk’s Neuralink which aims to develop a full “brain-machine interface system” make this risk a distinct reality.
Collapse of Established Democracies: The risk of collapse of established democratic systems and a turn to authoritarianism.
Geo-Magnetic Disruption: The reversal of the world’s geomagnetic poles. As this article from NASA explains, earth’s geomagnetic field is not an environmental constant. The globes geomagnetic field has switched over mellenia, and the impact this reversal will have on human and ecological ecosystems is far from certain.
Gene-Editing: The risk of classified gene-editing programmes and the rise of humans with selected enhanced genetic capabilities.
Permafrost Melt and Release of Microorganisms: The risk that melting permafrost will release unknown viruses into the world’s ecosystems.
Deployment of Small Scale Nuclear Weapons: The risk of nuclear war. We have seen a worrying rise in global conflict. Ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, the Middle East, spats of conflict between India and Pakistan (two nuclear powers), spats between India and China (also two nuclear powers) on their western border, and now a worrying shift in conflict on their eastern border. This of course is accompanied by shifting nuclear deterrence frameworks, and an risk of increased nuclear proliferation.
Read of the Week:
To end on a brighter note, this week’s recommended read is a work of fiction, a novel called A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. It has been a novel which offers different insights on life with every read.
To all the couples out there, as you order your next meal - I leave you with a sobering but entertaining reflection from the book:
“Surely, the span of time between the placing of an order and the arrival of appetizers is one of the most perilous in all human interaction. What young lovers have not found themselves at this juncture in a silence so sudden, so seemingly insurmountable that it threatens to cast doubt upon their chemistry as a couple? What husband and wife have not found themselves suddenly unnerved by the fear that they might not ever have something urgent, impassioned, or surprising to say to each other again?”
Thanks for reading, and until next week.
FK
Good information here. A lot of the risks identified in the WEF are interrelated. Youth disillusionment is a function of lack of opportunity, which in turn can lead to recruitment into dangerous ideologies, and ultimately, acts of terrorism. How many of these risks are a consequence of lack of education and opportunity?