Share| The Need for Person-Centered Education

Abstract

We, the children of the Anthropocene Era, are entering the 4th industrial revolution and the impact is going to be pervasive and of greater magnitude compared to the previous industrial revolutions. The incoming changes, approaching at an accelerating speed, will be impacting everything and everybody and blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres; they will affect the bio-psycho-social dimensions, our narratives and even what it means to be human. If we are not farsighted and do not plan effectively, the results could be very problematic for all life forms on Earth. If we manage the 4th industrial revolution with the same blindness and forms of denial with which we managed the previous industrial revolutions, the negative effects will be exponential. But we are not impotent; we can manage this revolution wisely, increase the positive effects and mitigate the negative ones since technology is designed, made and managed by us. We cannot afford to be naïve and just hope that technology will automatically improve our lives; new and effective tools for understanding and governing such epochal changes are needed apart from the need for facilitating awareness in all stakeholders about the dangers and opportunities offered by the incoming changes. Effective forms of education are crucial. The fourth revolution could be an unprecedented success if we are able to manage complex processes and at the same time assure that each innovation will not only bring change but also foster a more humane, sustainable, peaceful and prosperous future for all. For effective governance, we need effective tools. One much-needed tool is the clear understanding of the crucial role played by the processes by which we humans construe experiences of ourselves, of others and other life forms. In other words, most of us still think we live in a unidimensional reality, but we live in a socially construed consensus reality, ignoring which may create crucial blind spots, diminish our coping capacities and resilience, thereby generating humongous self-inflicted damages. To meet these challenges, effective and scientifically validated person- and people-centered educational approaches are necessary. They will play a crucial role in enabling us to stop wasting our best resources—human and natural capital—and will facilitate us to achieve effective and sustainable governance.