FPYC: For young parents
I have often been asked to describe what I do. Although broadly speaking my interest is educating for future success, to make it a little intriguing, I would say that I work in the area of FMGC products. Since most people are familiar with the jargon of the business world, many would promptly respond “ Sir, do you mean FMCG products?”
I would explain that I use FMGC as an acronym for “ For My Grand Children”. Because I am concerned with being ready for the world of 2030s and beyond. As I thought over it, I realised that my thoughts would be helpful to several other parents of young children, who realise that this is a time of very rapid changes, and the formal system is ill-equipped to deal with future educational readiness of the youth. So it seems that an effective approach may be to help parents of young children to oversee the cognitive development trajectories of their children, each with its unique talent and potential.
As I have been using WhatsApp for several years for lifelong learning, I have formed a WhatsApp group for this purpose, labelled FPYC: For parents of young children. Or FPYC: For Young Parents, to fit into the WhatsApp restrictions for naming groups.
This is a group for informed and enlightened parenting of young children focussed on the cognitive development of young children, typically below 10 years, to be ready for the age of Artificial Intelligence and to thrive prosper and flourish in it. Their future is a world very different from that in which their parents or grandparents might have grown up. There is a critical need for curated resources such as books, videos, audios & articles for and from these young parents to take decisions affecting their children’s future, so that they don’t become one of the ‘useless class’ predicted by Yuval Noah Harari. The antidote to becoming a part of the useless class is to become invaluable, the Ubermensch as espoused by Frederich Nietzsche . And it is indeed possible to Become invaluable , not useless : https://mmpant.com/binu/
At a recent event, I dared to predict that in the foreseeable future, India will be the education hub for the world, and the best education and learning destination.
Some distinguished educators expressed their apprehension that I had perhaps gone ‘too far’ in my imagination, given the present ‘reality’ of Indian education, especially when compared to US, UK, Finland, Estonia and other digitally advanced countries of the world.
We had Chautala undergo a 10 year prison sentence for teacher recruitment scam, the Vyapam scam, and lots of more evidence of the pitiable state of Indian education.
In spite of being fully aware of this, I continue to hold my view like Galilieo said ‘ e pur si mouve’ even though he was sentenced to death. And Socrates was asked to drink hemlock as he was accused of ‘corrupting the youth’.
Coming back to the point, my first thought is that education is not the ‘right’ of the Government and it has adversely taken over education, and in due course educators will reclaim learning from the bureaucrats and politicians, who are symbols of the state power. The state does not create ‘knowledge’ nor does it own the intellectual property rights on ‘knowledge’ but claims the sovereign right to education delivery.
Philosophers, thinkers, Scientists and men of letters all created the common body of knowledge for which the ‘State’ usurps the right to disseminate and certify competence, without any evidence of competence, solely by the coercive force of ‘law’.
We will very soon realise that learning is for the learner, and is mutually created by the teacher and learner and the State has no role in it.
As an example, when Bill Gates and Paul Simon founded Microsoft in 1975, could they have imagined that in less than 40 years, it’s CEO would be a person educated in India ( and not in the famed IITs, but an enterprise promoted by a private organisation). Incidentally Madan Mohan Malaviya who was conferred the Bharata Ratna recently, was primarily for the first private initiative in creating an Indian University.
So in the refrain of Karl Marx who exhorted the workers of the world to unite, I have the dream ( Martin Luther King) of educators of the world ( or at least this country to unite).
In fact, Science the most glorious of human achievement flourishes because it is a community of Scientists that drives it, and not bureaucrats and politicians ( except for a brief episode of Lysenko in the Soviet Union).
So once this happens, what are the drivers of success? The future of education is technology delivered, AI empowered in the English language and developing higher order cognitive skills. And Indians have leadership in all the above elements.
And I always like to be inspired by two very eminent women in confirming my beliefs.
One is Elinor Ostrom who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in economics for demonstrating that unlike Garret Hardin’s tragedy of the commons, the resources held in commons are better managed by the community itself than either by the Government or the private corporate. We are the learning community.
The other is Margaret Mead, the well known anthropologist who said ” never doubt that a few committed and passionate people can change the world. Indeed this is the way it has always been.”
If you would like to be a part of this community, please use the following link to join the WhatsApp group: