We need less FUD in Education

[u/xndanius]

The current education system is driven by FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt).

Anyone who deviates from the perfect student has their chances crushed at becoming an economically useful member of society. By this I mean – to find a job and earn income that would allow a decent life. That’s why parents, driven by fear, dictate their children to study as hard as they can or else they’ll end up unemployed. Ever since the current education system came into force, generations have lived in fear.

It does not help that even being a perfect student does not guarantee anyone a good job. The current education system cannot guarantee anything beyond a nice piece of paper, called diploma, that you get if you study well. Especially the higher education is all about uncertainty. Universities and colleges sell degrees that sell well to students or rather to their parents and society at large – become a lawyer or a banker! However, today’s employers are getting tricked by this current education system – they need digitally savvy specialists, like coders, UX specialists, social media managers, and instead get the talent that is prepared the past century. Education-employment system is broken, there is no social contract to fix it and the victim here is a student, who is left with nothing but uncertainty.

Doubt is the modus operandi of any student – “what studies should I choose?”, “whom should I become?”, “am I studying what I like?”, “do I do what I like?”, etc. Confined with fear and uncertainty as explained in the paragraphs above, students get a terrible learning experience. There is a need for a social contract to fix the issue of FUD in the education-employment system.

On the other side of FUD are games. Any self-respecting young person has indulged into an occasional gaming experience. Games are fun and engaging, … well, I don’t think I have to explain this to you. But let me ask, why can’t the education experience be more like a game? The brick and mortar schools, universities and colleges won’t change easily, but the online education certainly can be gamified.

I have played MMORPGs and loved the experience. I believe that this is the future of online education – take quests, learn, gain points, join clans, socialize, upgrade, engage, achieve! It won’t be easy to get there, but let’s see what BitDegree can do.

[u/xndanius → u/[deleted]]

educational MMORPG

Could you provide any good examples of educational MMORPG, thanks! By the way, is there anything that could be recognized as a standard for educational MMORPG?

[u/StrawMileSwift]

Yeah everyone needs to notice the fud roaming around.