On Fred Wilson’s blog today, user Mark Slater commented

how many of you have young kids? (2-4 yrs)

how many of you have had that experience watching them swipe and tap on a device.

My 2 year old picks up the Ipad – swipes the unlock – swipes to the youtube icon, launches the app, locates saved searches, selects “how to milk a cow” puts it down on the floor and watches as a farmer demonstrates the milking process…….”

its absolutely amazing to watch – and i know i am not alone.

i’ll tell you what disruption is – disruption is doing away with the entire notion of a textbook in the first place – replacing it with digital immersive experiences coupled to structured conversations.

textbooks are like phonebooks. An archane outdated approach to packaging and organizing a body of information. explode the textbook in to a million digital pieces – let innovation put the particles back together.

ofcourse – some old world entitty thinks it has the rights to that body of info and will end up suing its customers much like the labels did i guess.

The technical problem of sharing knowledge with the people who want it has been solved.

The political problem of managing a system that inculcates obedience in the name of providing knowledge is insoluble. If you want to know something, you can learn how to do it with a search query. Even a toddler can do it. Social networks allow anyone to track down someone who knows what they’re talking about and grill them for information.

Now that this powerful networking technology is ubiquitous, it introduces a painful question  to conventional people. Why do we still force children to attend technologically antiquated schools for such a large portion of their active hours?

Are they really receiving the best education at the lowest cost possible? What’s the opportunity cost of keeping a curious young child confined to a chair?

Is community college  or ‘vocational school’ really the best way to turn an unskilled person into a capable factory worker?

The most important distinction between a knowledge worker and a laborer is curiosity. No one will become a world-class developer unless they have the motivation to continue their studies throughout their working life.

The internet generates pleasurable feedback loop for curiosity. Curiosity is repaid with the reward of new knowledge time and again. When I search on Google, I usually get what I want. When I want more detail on a topic, I can download a book from Amazon in less than 30 seconds for a small fee.

Schools train passivity and rote learning. Machines are better at obedience and rote learning than humans are, which is why low-level laborers have been replaced at such a rapid rate since the industrial revolution began.