Education First
Thinking about the future can be an intimidating and daunting task. What will happen? Who will make the rules? Where will I stand within it? There is a lot to think about.
One of the best ways to look at the future is by examining the past, the study of history. This important discipline has been a benchmark for civilization but in the modern digital age, it seems to take a backseat in everyday people’s understanding of the world. Who wants to study history when it’s so boring! And all those dates? That’s way too difficult!
As a history graduate, I understand the first hand experience of being bored in a history class. History didn’t come easy to me, I hated many of the classes I had to sit in back in grade school. It wasn’t until I had a mentor who understood how to communicate effectively that my opinion of the discipline changed. When you want people to engage with history don’t focus deeply on the dates, focus on the story. The right orator can make the characters come off the page; magnetism can give history context and purpose. Napoleon Bonaparte did not just start a war with Europe, he tried to dominate European civilization. Words have meaning.
In this day and age it is increasingly difficult to access education. With tuition fees for many post secondary institutions being astronomically high, it is hard for a lot of middle to lower income families to access affordable education. Practices such as that can decrease a person’s ability to move up in the socioeconomic ladder and often continue cycles of poverty within communities. Access to affordable education is paramount in the fight for equality, but unfortunately that is still not a reality we live in.
In absence of this, the next best thing should be to turn to a digital source. With smartphone technology having the capacity for a small computer, it is easy to search online almost instantaneously for information about anything. The difficulty with that is being able to verify the information you are receiving is accurate. Luckily there has been a slow rise in educational content created online by professors and teachers that does not exist behind a paywall. On top of that this content is usually pretty accessible on YouTube, the world’s most readily used video sharing platform.
The study of history has been an incredibly important part of my life, it has given me skills to understand information I never thought I would have to confront let alone conceptualize. During my undergrad I discovered the YouTube channel Crash Course. Developed by YouTube’s own John and Hank Green, Crash Course is a channel dedicated to educational content aimed at assisting high school students in studying for various disciplines. I happened to discover the world history series as I was studying world history. There is not a day that goes by where I am not glad to have discovered the channel. I still watch their educational content today; they have a fascinating series on artificial intelligence that I am dying to finish.
Now let me be clear, I am not suggesting that this is a good substitution, but I will suggest that engaging with this content is a good entry point into some incredibly difficult topics. Education should be accessible to all and content such as this allows people to grow their education on a variety of concepts without having to spend a dime. For those that couldn’t afford that knowledge otherwise, this is a win win.
Below I’ve attached a few Crash Course Videos that speak to the current world we live in. There is a lot to learn and a lot to digest from these videos but please don’t let that stop you. I would love to talk to you about any one of these ideas and hopefully after watching all these videos, you will want to have that discussion with me too.
Until then, be kind.
And wash your hands.
