In the Twenty-First century, the world got “flattened”; many people from different corners of the planet can now collaborate and compete with many other people, using computers, e-mail, fiber-optic networks, and software (Friedman, 2005). Thanks to the World Wide Web, where individuals can post their digital content for everyone to access, and the spread of commercial Web browser, which allows retrieving many documents and/or webpages sorted in websites and then displaying them on any computer screen in a simple manner, more people can communicate and interact with more people anywhere on the planet than ever before. In addition, the combination of the PC, the Internet, and fiber-optic cable has allowed any service, such as call centers, business support operations, or knowledge work that can be digitized, to be done thousands of miles away by the cheapest, smartest, and most efficient provider. For example, Indians do outsourced medical transcriptions for American doctors and hospitals at one-fifth of the cost of doing it in the United States. Moreover, the Internet enabled the world to know a country like China, where there are cheaper labor, lower taxes, and lower health-care costs, and opens a new kind of collaboration between onshore and offshore factories. Also, Google and other search engines enable so many people to find so much information, products, and/or services faster than through traditional means. Thus, as Friedman (2005) argues, in a flat world, people are challenged by, competing with, and/or collaborating with people with whom they have never challenged, competed, or collaborated, and they are doing things as individuals they have never dreamt of doing.
Some may wonder whether anyone will benefit when the world become so flat and so many people can collaborate and compete. Friedman (2005) emphasizes that those with prepared minds and those upgrading their education and upgrading their knowledge skills will benefit when the world became flat. Indian engineers, for instance, were talented, educated, and English–speaking engineers, so they benefited when the world got flattened. They benefited from the overcapacity in fiber optics that connected India to the rest of the world, and they benefited from the “bust” that made the cost of using it virtually free and increased the number of American companies that would want to use that fiber-optic cable to outsource knowledge work to India. They were lucky, but also, as Friedman argues, they had prepared minds, so they picked what they planted through hard work and education. Louis Pasteur said “Fortune favors the prepared mind” (as cited in Friedman, 2005, p. 136). In other words, those who are well-educated will benefit from a flat world. People like Indians and Chinese benefited from a flat world and became part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing because they have “rich educational heritage” (p. 213). Therefore, Friedman (2005) emphasizes the importance of improving education; as a result, individuals will be able to compete for the new jobs in a flat world because, in a flat world, “how we educate our children may prove to be more important than how much we educate them” (p. 302). Consequently, an important question needing to be asked is what the “right education” is to prepare students to enter the world of the Twenty-First Century and to be able to compete and collaborate in a flat world.
Learning how to learn is the central ability required for students to be effective lifelong learners in a flat world. Friedman (2005) emphasizes that the ability to learn how to learn is the first and the most important ability that should be developed in a flat world because what one knows today will be out-of-date soon. Since knowledge now advances rapidly, students need not only to learn at school but also to develop the abilities and behaviors that will enable them to continue learning throughout their adult life (Black, McCormick, Jams & Pedder, 2006). In other words, when students learn how to learn, they can be independent learners who can learn well at school and throughout life as well. One strategy that can help students learn how to learn is to encourage them to love learning. Friedman (2005) argues, “To learn how to learn, [one] has to love learning” (p. 303). A love of learning is a necessary reason to engage in learning and pursue understanding and learning new knowledge; indeed, it is a part of personal growth because developing habits of learning and enthusiasm for it would assist students to be independent and lifelong learners (Penman & Ellis, 2009). Although love cannot be forced from outside, teachers can play an important role in implanting love of learning in their students. Once teachers love learning and teaching, this love of learning will transmit to their students. Friedman (2005) believes that the excitement about learning that teachers inspire can encourage students to love learning for its own sake. In fact, a teacher’s love of learning can have the effect of engaging students and promoting optimal learning, and demonstrating this to students helps teachers themselves remain up-to-date with advancements in their field (Penman & Ellis, 2009).
In a flat world, not only should students be able to learn how to learn and love learning, but also they should have a passion to learn and a curiosity to discover to be able to pursue lifelong learning. Friedman (2005) believes that passion and curiosity are more important than intelligence in a flat world. He argues that, in a flat world, curious and passionate students will overcome less passionate students with high intelligence because curious and passionate students are self-educators and self-motivators. That is, curiosity provides the motivational fuel for learning at each step of the educational process; it provides the source of internal motivation that comprises the foundation of education (Binson, 2009). And, a passion to learn generates energy and a desire to do more; it lifts, exhilarates, and can inspire an exceptional learning effort (Davies & Osguthorpe, 2003). For instance, because Indian high school students have a passion to learn and a desire to join the engineering college, they could learn in small hot classrooms seven- days- a- week until 10 pm, and instead of taking rest when they return home, they drink cups of coffee to keep themselves awake to continue studying. One way to instill in students a sense of curiosity or stimulate their own innate curiosity is challenging them by asking questions that motivate thinking. Jones (2001) emphasizes that asking questions stimulating students to think beyond what they study can keep the spark of curiosity alive in students. In addition, to instill a sense of passion to learn in students, a teacher must bring his/her own passion about learning and life into the classroom. If a passion to learn does not burn in teachers to begin with, they cannot light the fire of passion in their students (Friedman, 2005). In fact, a teacher’s passion- a passion about the field of knowledge, a passion about issues facing our world, and a passion about students- is what makes the greatest difference in the quality and depth of students’ learning (Fried, 1995).
In sum, in a flat world, thanks to technology, more people in more places have the power to connect, compete, and collaborate with more people than ever before. Unfortunately, not anyone can benefit from a flat world. In fact, only those who are well-educated and those who are able to upgrade their knowledge skills will be able to benefit from a flat world. Therefore, education has a great mission in preparing Twenty-First Century students to be able to compete and collaborate in a flat world. Since those who know how to learn can learn well not only at school but also throughout life, the central aim of education should be the development of students’ ability to learn how to learn. The best way that can help students learn how to learn is installing and motivating a love of learning and a sense of passion and curiosity to discover in them. Indeed, a teacher’s passion and enthusiasm for teaching and learning has the power to light the fire of passion and love of learning in his/her students.
References:
Binson, B. (2009, December). Curiosity-based learning (CBL) program. US-China Education
Review, 6(12), 13-22.
Black, P., McCormick, R., James, M. & Pedder, D. (2006, June). Learning how to learn and
assessment for learning: A theoretical inquiry. Research Paper in Education, 21(2), 119-132.
Davies, R. & Osguthorpe, R. (2003, October). Reflecting on learner intent. Reflective Practice,
4(3), 303-315
Fried, R. (1995, October). The heart of the matter. Teacher Magazine, 7(2), retrieved September
Friedman, T. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Jones, S. (2001). Teachers who stimulate curiosity. Education, 101(2), 158-165.
Penman, J. & Ellis, B. (2009, April). Regional academics’ perceptions of the love of learning and
its importance for their students. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 49(1), 148-168.
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