To decide what is worth learning, we must look beyond

Educators around the world are routinely trying to decide what is worth learning. The question has been around probably since the beginning of consciousness. What is different now, however, is that the pace of human growth has astounded everyone. So rapid are the changes we are encountering on a daily basis that, to predict what the world will look like in the next 10 years is anybody's guess. No vision can seem fantastic, after we have seen what humans are capable of in the last 10.

David Perkins, a highly respected educator, writes in his latest book "Future Wise", that "what's worth learning" is one of the most important questions in education.  He further writes that the Universe of what's learning is expanding, with six broad trends. As Islamic educators, we might want to look beyond these six trends. The purpose of this post is to suggest that Islamic Educators may want to look at eleven 11 trends, without which we might not develop into the kind of Ummah that we possibly could.

A Muslim educator must envision education beyond

1. this world, as the final goal of a Muslim is to earn success in the Hereafter
2. school, as a Muslim is expected to learn from the cradle to the grave, i.e., be a life long learner
3. traditional view of intelligence, as it is demonstrated by Howard Gardner, and others, that children have multiple intelligences, talents and dispositions
4. the individual, and realize that we are all a part of each other, and hence selfishness and narcissistic view of the world will not work
5.  assimilation of knowledge into the individual, as it is extremely important for learners to contribute in meaningful ways to make the world a better place
6. mastery of content, as nowadays any knowledge/content that we desire is available at our fingertips
7. basic skills, such as reading, writing, and arithmetic, but rather the creativity, collaboration, communication, cooperation, self-direction, digital media literacy and the so-called 21st Century skill-set
8. knowledge and skills, as without good character, knowledge and skills alone will not suffice, as demonstrated by, among others, "the smartest guys in the room"
9. traditional disciplines, and discrete disciplines, with the increased demand of interdisciplinary skills and competencies
10. standard prescribed content-based curricula, as the knowledge base of human civilization is insurmountable, and we will need diverse expertise if we are to navigate the future
11. local perspectives, towards regional, ummatic and hence global perspectives