Should Learning Adapt?

If water in a tub is knowledge that must be retained, and rocks are the lessons in life that build that knowledge, then the more rocks you add the higher water/knowledge becomes, right? But if you add too many rocks, eventually the water will spill and the knowledge with it withers away.

We add so much information over such a short period of time into the minds of children, but by doing this we miss some of the talents and strengths that children have. Then children eventually lose that talent through lack of interest, and lost talent never shines into the limelight and becomes suppressed, and like the over spilled water from the analogy above, it becomes lost in the myriad of what could have been or what should have been, and when that child reaches adulthood they take the inevitable big sigh of regret for lost dreams. So should the learning needs of individual children adapt and change to allow a child's talent to shine through in an ever changing world, to let them fly and reach heights never seen before? It is clear that normal education needs to change for the future we inevitably face.

Equally, we need to address the changes in society and social structure as a whole, if a child has a talent to think outside the box, then let them think outside of that box, let them run with their plans, let them teach us what they need. They are the future after all, and in a technological age which is changing at such a fast pace, children are more adaptable than any adult, able to manipulate data and languages and process it faster than most. For example I have seen a child 3D printing prosthetic arm, seen them program and adapt programs, yet this kind of teaching seems to be at the very back of school curriculums, whereas new technologies are at the very forefront of our everyday lives. Robotic research for example has taken leaps and bounds over the last few years, yet the majority of children are not taught coding or engineering at a young age to give them a leg up in the world, which is something important and needed, if we are about to face a robotic era, we are going to need programmers and engineering experts to maintain and build such devices.

So should we begin to adapt and change, and move antiquated learning into a new era; yes still teach the basics, but adapt away from certain lessons and move on to pastures new?

Should we allow a child's mind to grow beyond compromise? To see them reach new heights never seen before?

One thing is clear, education needs to be tweaked, because the future of development and technology will demand it, we are no longer seeing a world of basics, we are seeing a world growing scientifically and at such a rapid rate, future minds need to be ready.

What lessons do you whittle back though?

Should school time be extended to teach lessons such as coding, such as engineering, or are some schools who do have lessons such as these doing enough to help children with these lessons?

Each day we seem to see new innovative technologies appear from the ethos, it seems as soon as you buy one gadget another better one becomes available, with all the bells and whistles you want, (but never knew you needed).

So as to where technology will stop, who knows? So to give a child a leg up isn't such a bad thing, or is it?