Whereas the past witnessed a synchronization between the speed of change and speed of adaptation, today, signals a monumental disruption because of the accelerated speed of change outpacing adaptation. This is even more conspicuous, in the knowledge world, as ‘what’ was learnt yesterday is slowly being erased by what is necessary to be learnt today. This dilemma of accommodating information in a constantly altering beta learning environment has created different kinds of peculiarities.

The process of learning or ‘how’ one learns, has always been relegated by the emphatic thrust on ‘what’ i.e to be learnt. Many learning environments continue to embrace a prescriptive learning approach, where learning is imparted as a monologue to the masses and where memorization of information is the be-all of learning. This unfortunately deters high order thinking and extinguishes the spark in a learner’s mind. Whereas this model thrived in the past; in today’s high demand era of specialized global skills and digital fluencies, its failure is imminent.

With the world still trying to decode the predicament of the millennials and the future forecasting endless queries from the centennials; the purpose of learning needs to be demystified. It’s All About the Why. “It’s not the math,” she said. “It’s just … I like fractions and all, but I don’t know why I’m learning this. When will I ever use it?”

“So often in education, we focus on the wrong things. Test scores. Marks. Awards. Simon Sinek has it right. We need to start with why.”

Why, what, how we learn needs to be understood, valued and meaning needs to be established.