| Education around the world is confronted by volatile economies, demographic trends, public opinion, government support and commercial competition. The issues facing higher education require more than employee restructuring or financial management. Systemic Education concerns the relevance of university education in tomorrow's world. University Education Universities have been educational holy grails for centuries. Universities have been endowed by royalty, religions, governments and alumni, and an ever-increasing number of people compete for placement. University education provides knowledge - know what and know why.
Know how and know when is often relegated to technical and vocational colleges. This single fact may decrease the relevance of university education as the gap between knowledge and competence increases. University education, whether relevant or not, will remain in demand as long as government regulations, professional associations and conservative hiring procedures require university diplomas. Personal skills, abilities and genius are less important than paperwork. Modern universities can be perceived as luxuries of an energy-rich economy - a luxury that, unless alternative long-term energy sources are harnessed, may decay with oil reserves. University and Commercial Discoveries Since World War II, most important discoveries were made in commercial laboratories. The laser, the transistor, polio vaccine, microchips, the hologram, the personal computer, nuclear magnetic resonance, the CAT scan ... and more. Universities are not where technology advances. |
A university scientist wants to start a project. Count the grant applications and weigh the paperwork. Count the approvals needed for steering committees and assess the time waiting for answers. Watch the politics to get the support of the department chairman and the resources committee, and monitoring rival researchers. Note the
effort to get work space, computer time and assistants. Few commercial scientists
need squander so many precious resources and waste so much time. | Educational Process The process of university education is not the halls of academia, where people receive 5-10 years of education, consisting primarily of classroom lectures and library research. Students know that they are likely to use 10% of what they learn - and that most examinations test whether they can remember something long enough to repeat it. Later they find that 90% of the knowledge that they need came from other sources than formal education. University students are expected to jump through academic hoops - to prove persistence; at the expense of life experience. Many graduate students have limited social resources and problem-solving abilities. Ruts are Graves University tenure implies that time teaching a subject improves the worth of the teacher. Tenure evaluation could focus on skills development rather than on published articles and grants. Expertise in abstract knowledge provides few employment opportunities outside of academia, where such knowledge can be recycled to new generations. But the real world expects results. Many academic fields have increasing competition. Computer science, once an ivory tower specialty, has become synonymous with self-educated expertise. Psychology has become a science of mediocrity - competing with self-help and popular therapies that provide emotional control and success skills. Following the rise of literacy, bookstores and now internet access; academic knowledge (know-why and know-what) has diminished in its sanctity. Technologies (know-how, know-which and know-when) have become the keys that open the doors of success.. Dr Clare W. Graves (a post-doc student of Dr. Abram Maslow) postulated that human societies develop - and regress - in predictable ways; and explored the codes that shape human nature and drive evolutionary change. Graves described eight value systems that provide a systemic frame for predicting human dynamics. Each value system provides a plateau on the mountain of human development. [ Graves 1, 2 & 3 . Graves 4, 5 & 6 . Graves 7, 8 & 9 ] Systemic Education Know-why and know-what are the domain of universities. Know-how and know-which are the domain of technological colleges and trade schools. An emerging choice is systemic education, which offers a synthesis of academia and technology, in which academic know-how is upgraded by systemic coaching, accelerated learning and expert modeling: - Systemic coaching - rapidly improve competence and innovation
- Accelerated Learning - rapidly acquire new skills
- Expert modeling - rapidly replicate expert performance
Systemic Solutions examines how to serve present and future generations: how to develop skills for predicting "future history" - that can select appropriate solutions and avoid expensive mistakes. The left column of the table indicates the thrust of university education. The central column shows technical and vocational schools, and the right column outlines systemic education: Knowledge Education | Skill Education | Systemic Education | | Rooted in traditional assumptions | Rooted in duplicating success | Rooted in integrity | | Individual differences are ignored | Individual differences are blurred | Individual differences are celebrated | | Focus on understanding problems | Focus on solving problems | Focus on divergent qualities | | Focus on examining the past | Focus on acting now | Focus on future consequences | | Teacher's authority is position | Teacher's authority is competence | Teacher's authority is integrity | | Focus on historical evidence | Focus on current situations | Focus on predictive accuracy | | Focus on theoretical structure | Focus on demonstrated skill | Focus on creative flexibility | | Assumes students need knowledge | Assumes students need skills | Assumes students need purpose | | Focus on accumulating knowledge | Focus on developing skills | Focus on developing qualities | | Gain acknowledgement through papers | Gain acknowledgement through projects | Gain acknowledgement through achievable visions | | Ignores unconscious process | Utilizes unconscious process | Celebrates unconscious process | | Skills serve to increase knowledge | Knowledge serves to increase skills | Knowledge and skills serve human systems | | Internal solutions to understand situations | External solutions to overcome barriers | Systemic solutions that benefit humanity | Constructivist-Systemic Education Establishments providing Systemic Education are rare. The following educational pattern is utilized throughout Systemic Solutions to replicate the skills of relationship management. - Observe a system
- Describe the qualities of the system
- Create hypotheses about connections between elements
- Create models of systemic elements and interactions
- Experiment to test the validity of hypotheses and models
- Formulate theories, laws and principals
- Apply theories, laws and principals to create systemic tools
- Solve applied tasks using systemic tools
Applications of Systemic Education Systemic Education helps people: - build stability and security
- improve expert performance
- develop empathy and life quality in community
- use systemic skills to integrate systems
[ Accelerated Learning [ Knowledge Management . Learning Disabilities ] [ Prevent Learning Disabilities . Expert Modeling ]
Systemic Solutions provide effective coaching, training and mentorship. Do you want to coach people to resolve emotional and relationship challenges? Copyright © 2002-2005 by Martyn Carruthers. All rights reserved. | 
