Episode 45: Lifelong Learning, Reimagined with Ryan Stowers, Charles Koch Foundation's Executive Director

When it comes to education, there's a big cultural shift that needs to occur. We ourselves might be the biggest barrier to transforming higher education. It's really about the role that higher education and post-secondary education plays in our lives. The shift has to begin with us changing the way we think and act about the role higher education plays in our lives.

An Individual Approach

Maybe we need to move away from education as a function of seat time, credit hours, or degrees. Instead, we need a significant shift toward an individualized approach, honing in on a specific learner's aptitudes, passions, and interests. As it stands, there are just too many learners that aren't having an empowering experience. Only one in three students at four-year institutions believe that they'll graduate with the skills and knowledge to be successful in the workplace. These numbers are pretty startling.

The real cost of getting this wrong isn't just the trillions of dollars in student loan debt, it's the hit that real people are taking in their lives—and the damage can be catastrophic. Most of the debate on what needs to change doesn't even touch on those individuals who didn't make it into higher education or post-secondary education, or removed themselves from the system because they couldn't find the right fit. The status quo of the current system is creating barriers in people's lives. There is a unique potential inside of every individual, and Ryan believes it's our job as philanthropists, educational providers, and stakeholders in the system to figure out new ways to remove those barriers to allow people to reach their full potential. 

Millions of people could be benefiting from some form of post-secondary education. Unfortunately, the current system has told them that they're not good enough or that they're not a good fit. This is where change needs to occur. Given where technology is and the innovation that's occurred as a result in other industries, post-secondary education has the opportunity to empower every learner to discover and develop their aptitudes in a way that is meaningful to them and which will allow them to contribute effectively in society. There are tons of opportunities driven by education and entrepreneurs who are developing solutions from the bottom up, and Ryan believes that the best solutions will come from those closest to the problem. To be clear though, none of these ideas will work unless we change the way we think and act about learning. That cultural shift is absolutely critical.

Removing Stigmas

As believers in lifelong learning, we need to pay a lot more attention to individual learners' voices and preferences. This means putting the ownership of what those pathways look like back in the hands of the learner—so that they can be presented with a dynamic set of options to adequately receive the continued education they seek. The answers seem to be right at our fingertips, especially given all the innovation that's occurring in general. We should have a system that can look at the millions and millions of potential learners in the post-secondary industry and provide them with individualized approaches that will not only lead to good jobs, but good jobs that line up with their individual aptitudes, passions, and interests. There's no reason why we can't do that.

When you have something extraordinary, expanding access to it doesn't cheapen it, it strengthens it. Right now, a lot of parents are prone to making emotional investments with no basis. For example, some may feel that because they pay $150,000 for college, that their kid will get a $200,000 job. We can do better by educating parents and students alike that it's perfectly fine to go to community college, while highlighting that many community colleges are extremely innovative, accessible, and affordable. The way many people think right now facilitates a two-tiered society and places a stigma on anyone that doesn't get a four-year degree or go to a top-tier, elite university. In reality, it's not the difference between a Lamborghini and a Corolla, it's just the facility. This stigma is destroying people's lives. 

There's also a stigma that some people have that they don't even feel like they're learners. They don't feel like they're capable of any type of post-secondary learning. They're primarily workers who need to go get a job, and they may learn on the job, but there are millions of people in the country who have so much more potential than they're able to reach right now. To break this stigma, enough people need to see what's possible and how it empowers them to reach their full potential, and feel strongly enough that they're willing to hit the streets and demand it for themselves and their children. Investing in the best, most impactful solution from the bottom up, whether that be done inside or outside the traditional space, is one way to make sure that people see what's possible.

The Lego Approach to Learning

The goal is for as many learners as possible to experience the process of figuring out what they're really good at and designing a pathway based on that. They can then remove themselves from the situations where they don't add any value, so these can be filled by somebody else to supplement or complement them in those areas. Rather than approaching education through a strictly linear pipeline, it should be visualized more like Lego pieces, which can be added or subtracted when necessary to pivot, and at the same time allow people to do it in their own way. To thrive, higher education needs to embrace a culture of innovation. If we can't create and sustain a usable workforce, and we create people that only work in car rental places or fast food places, that's not good for the nation. More accessible education equates to better jobs, which allows individuals to become better citizens who are not only more productive, but more secure in their ability to make an income.

Connect with Ryan Stowers: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-stowers-1832024/

Learn more about the Charles Koch Foundation at https://charleskochfoundation.org/

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