Challenge the known. Embrace the unknown.

Challenge the known; embrace the unknown.

A little dramatic?

This is actually a quote from Guy Kawasaki, one of the key pioneering engineers at Apple, who was addressing a group of students at their high school graduation. Here’s an excerpt:

One of the biggest mistakes you can make in life is to accept the known and resist the unknown. You should, in fact, do exactly the opposite: challenge the known and embrace the unknown

Let me tell you a short story about ice. In the late 1800s there was a thriving ice industry in the Northeast. Companies would cut blocks of ice from frozen lakes and ponds and sell them around the world. The largest single shipment was 200 tons that was shipped to India. 100tons got there unmelted, but this was enough to make a profit.

These ice harvesters, however, were put out of business by companies that invented mechanical ice makers. It was no longer necessary to cut and ship ice because companies could make it in any city during any
season.

These ice makers, however, were put out of business by refrigerator companies. If it was convenient to make ice at a manufacturing plant, imagine how much better it was to make ice and create cold storage in everyone’s home.

You would think that the ice harvesters would see the advantages of ice making and adopt this technology. However, all they could think about was the known: better saws, better storage, better transportation.

Then you would think that the ice makers would see the advantages of refrigerators and adopt this technology. The truth is that the ice harvesters couldn’t embrace the unknown and jump their curve to the
next curve.

Challenge the known and embrace the unknown, or you’ll be like the ice harvester and ice makers.

The next curve is happening now. And we want Cempakans to remain ahead.

It’s no secret that, in most places world-wide, the way students are generally taught today is far removed from the way they want to be taught. Schools can certainly be more relevant and engaging. The way students are expected to learn in at school is totally different from the way they receive and process information outside of school, in real life. In school, it’s textbooks, exercise books. They may even be projected images or a presentation on a screen and odd computers in the classroom where they “do research on the net”.  Outside of school and “schoolwork”, they learn differently and from a whole lot of different sources. Sure, there is experiential learning through hands-on activities, but a lot of the other portion of learning is from the internet. Not just from information archives, but also through communication with their peers via blogs and forums. They multi-task most of the time, with SMS-ing, surfing, listening to music, IM-ing and watching TV, at the same time. This is the world they live in. This is the world that engages them.

There is no reason why we cannot engage them in the same way at school. And embracing the 1 to 1 learning environment is the first step.