The Discovery of Wisdom – Innovation Summer 2016

Every year new focuses in education enter society and academia, such as lessons of innovation, empathy, and skills. However, they are not leading the next generation to the discovery of wisdom. Wisdom is a long process that does not happen overnight. It starts with observation and the collection of data. The next component is the experience that develops from the positive effects of immersion and failures. The only thing people can claim as 100 percent their own is their failures. Combining data and experience creates knowledge. One without the other diminishes the complete understanding of the information. Once you have obtained various forms of knowledge, you will grow to a point where you are able to connect these dots of understanding and then apply them to life. This is wisdom.

So where are we going wrong, you ask? Students of today are the greatest data collectors of all time. Information seems to be at their fingertips. But where are the experiences? Social media? Instructional videos? The internet? We are not allowing the next generation to find their own answers. They are not experiencing their own failures, and without this very important block as a foundation, the walls of wisdom cannot be built.

Owen Foster
co-Founder and Director, SHiFT/Aether Global Learning