Take a look at this YouTube video from Dan Brown: “An Open Letter to Educators”:

Dan dropped out of college because, as he said, “my schooling was interfering with my education.” As he describes a typical college class and makes a passionate and positive plea for real education for the 21st century, do you find yourself in sympathy? I certainly do. When information is a click away, don’t we really need thinkers, innovators, visionaries, developers, creators and solutionaries far more than we need memorizers? And shouldn’t school foster and instill these critical qualities as it’s primary goal, rather than perpetuate the rote memorization approach to learning.

I’ve posted James Randi’s TED talk before, but it’s worth a look again. Graduating a generation who can spew out facts, but not think critically about them; who know information, but not how to tell if it’s accurate; who believe what they’re told and fail to take responsibility for the truth of those beliefs, is a potentially dangerous generation, especially at a time when critical and creative thinking are the keys to a safe and healthy future. Graduating a generation of solutionaries, however, ready and able to think deeply AND broadly, so that we can create a restored and humane world, is a worthy goal for schooling.

It’s nice to see Dan Brown thinking critically about his own education and taking responsibility for it.

Zoe Weil, President of the Institute for Humane Education
Author of The Power and Promise of Humane Education

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