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<\/a><\/p>\nThis is dangerous, at a time when there is increasingly no such thing as a high-wage, middle-skilled job \u2014 the thing that sustained many in the last generation. Now there is only a high-wage, high-skilled job. Every middle-class job today is being pulled up, out or down faster than ever. That is, it either requires more skill or can be done by more people around the world or is being buried \u2014 made obsolete \u2014 faster than ever. The situation is compounded by the fact that over 200, 000 students leave school at various levels every year in this country with the hope to get the same non-existent jobs. This is why the goal of education today, should not be to make every child \u201c university ready\u201d but \u201cinnovation ready\u201d \u2014 ready to add value to whatever they do. He explained.<\/p>\n
That is a tall task, he elaborates: \u2018because knowledge is available on every Internet-connected device, what you know matters far less than what you can do with what you know\u2019. The capacity to innovate \u2014 the ability to solve problems creatively or bring new possibilities to life \u2014 and skills like critical thinking, communication and collaboration are far more important than academic knowledge. As one top executive in a huge corporation told me, \u2018We can teach new hires the content, and we will have to because it continues to change, but we can\u2019t teach them how to think \u2014 to ask the right questions \u2014 and to take initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n
I have interviewed many past students of the University of Ghana who are the \u2018big men\u2019 in the country today, one thing runs through how they all got their jobs: they had it easy. They simply had to \u201cfind\u201d a job. But, more than ever, this generation will have to \u201cinvent\u201d a job. (Fortunately, in today\u2019s world, that\u2019s easier and cheaper than ever before) Sure, the lucky ones will find their first job, others as labour economist Baah-Boateng has said will have to wait, search and eventually find a job after two years of completing their university education. But, given the pace of change today, even they will have to reinvent, re-engineer and re-imagine that job much more often than their parents if they want to advance in it.<\/p>\n
If that\u2019s true, the question will then be what do young people need to know today?<\/p>\n
Every young person will continue to need basic knowledge, of course, but they will need skills and motivation even more. Of these three education goals, motivation is the most critical. \u2019Young people who are intrinsically motivated \u2014 curious, persistent, and willing to take risks \u2014 will learn new knowledge and skills continuously. They will be able to find new opportunities or create their own \u2014 a disposition that will be increasingly important as many traditional careers disappear.\u201d Professor Djangmah explained.<\/p>\n
So what should be the focus of education reform today?<\/p>\n The educationist stressed that \u2018we teach and test things most students have no interest in and will never need and facts that they can Google and will forget as soon as the test is over. Because of this, the longer kids stay in school, the less motivated they become.\u2019<\/p>\n More than a century ago, the west \u2018reinvented\u2019 the one-room schoolhouse and created factory schools for the industrial economy. Re-imagining schools for the 21st-century must be our highest priority. We need to focus more on teaching the skill and will to learn and to make a difference and bring the three most powerful ingredients of intrinsic motivation into the classroom: play, passion and purpose.<\/p>\n What does that mean for teachers and principals?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Teachers, need to coach students to excel in all that they do, and headmasters must be instructional leaders who create the culture of collaboration required to innovate. But what gets tested is what gets taught, and so we need \u2018Accountability 2.0.\u2019 All students should have digital portfolios to show evidence of mastery of skills like critical thinking and communication, which they build up right from basic education to the post- secondary level. Finally, teachers should be judged on evidence of improvement in students\u2019 work throughout the year. We need lab schools where students earn SHS certificates by completing a series of skill-based \u2018merit badges\u2019 in things like entrepreneurship. And schools of education where all new teachers have \u2018residencies\u2019 with master teachers and performance standards \u2014 not content standards \u2014 must become the new normal throughout the system.<\/p>\n Who is doing it right?<\/strong><\/p>\n Finland is one of the most innovative economies in the world, and it is the only country where students leave high school \u2018innovation-ready.\u2019\u00a0 They learn concepts and creativity more than facts, and have a choice of many electives \u2014 all with a shorter school day, little homework, and almost no testing.<\/p>\n There are also a growing number of \u2018reinvented\u2019 colleges like the Olin College of Engineering, the M.I.T. Media Lab and the \u2018D-school\u2019 at Stanford where students learn to innovate.<\/p>\n In 2006, the University of Ghana boldly started an entrepreneurship course, headed by the illustrious academic, lawyer and part time politician Dr. Samuel Buame. The school required that all students regardless of their main programme of study should take a semester course in Entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n This step in the right direction was short-lived as the programme was suspended after two years, basically because it suffered the fate of similar poorly thought through policies. For one, it was close to impossible for over 1500 students to fill the Central Cafeteria which was the venue for the class and learn anything meaningful. Again, whilst other institutions were teaching practical based entrepreneurship, Dr. Buame struggled to project his voice and paint mental pictures of how entrepreneurship works. It is not surprising that most students who took the course will only remember the expression \u2019quanxi\u2019- which is the Chinese term for networking.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n