Dear 21st century - an open letter from a liberal learner

Dear 21st century,

Let me introduce myself: I am a liberal learner, currently free from the pressures of rigid pedagogical learning. If there’s one thing you and I can agree upon, it would be that the past 20 years have been unpredictable. Not as unpredictable as the weather forecasts are but well beyond what my grandparents could have imagined. We went from expensive call prices to high-speed data transfer via optical fibres. From Bharat-3 engines, we’ve come to electric cars. Everything you wish to buy can be bought at your fingertips. No matter where you are, you can go to a virtual office. Infant mortality rates have rapidly declined and nuclear energy will soon become mainstream. Remember grandpa’s life where he cycled to his school and bought books from the neighbouring district? Well, I read on Kindle these days. My library moves with me. But why am I telling you this? To let you know what the 21st century has evolved into and the ways I am adapting to it. How? By pursuing liberal education.

Let me first define this term. Liberal, in a simplistic sense, means broad-minded and free-thinking. Combine it with education and what you get is a system of learning where students learn to think, question and challenge the norms. Okay. But what is it that makes liberal education different from what we presently have? Three major points, actually. Let me break them down.

Multi-disciplinary wisdom

pedagogy and heutagogy side by side, the former is a checklist method to encourage sameness while the latter is a learner-centric method to encourage uniqueness. I know people who tell animated stories on YouTube to the whole world from their own homes. I also know designers who build products based on a customer’s psychology. For such a diverse job market, liberal education is a more appropriate choice. Unless, you wish to specialise in a field you have no interest in. By the way, do you know who else does that? Insects. They have a very high capacity to mindlessly specialise. Humans can do better than that.

Yours truly,

A proud liberal learner

What do you think? Is liberal education going to be relevant in the 21st century? Write to us at contact@beyond8.in or on our social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn) You could also reach out to us on our website to understand our liberal education programs for high school learners.