Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens!

The Sultanate of Oman, with its rapidly developing educational sector is perfectly positioned to become, and be, a world leader, by providing learning experiences that can meet its societal, commercial, industrial needs and imperatives.

Having taught in higher education, been involved in higher education administration, as a primary education teacher, a post-education teacher, tutor, and consultant, and as a social commentator, I have been privileged to see how the Oman education and training sector has developed since the turn of the century. However, rather than basking in the richly deserved plaudits and praise, I would encourage instead, grasping the opportunity to go where no nation has gone before, and tailor future education towards meeting future needs, rather than today’s.

There is no doubt that the last twenty years have encouraged students to ask questions, which was great when what needed to be learned could be known, sustained, and guided by, teachers. However, times, as is their won't, have changed dramatically, and in a manner of speaking, we educators and educationalists have unleashed a beast we are no longer capable of controlling, with learning now as volatile as an out-of-control stallion. We have encouraged questions, discussion and debate, but no longer have enough answers.

We, and you, have developed the youth, taking them from confusion to curiosity, from perceptions of failure to demonstrations of resilience, from dreams to imagination. These skills didn’t just happen, they were inspired. We also taught this generation to respect other’s perspectives, their views and opinions. We have muted their feelings of inadequacy and rejection, and shown them that failure is not the end, but an opportunity to show the resilience they will need as they continue to grow as they spread their wings.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation, and Economic Development (OECD) says “In the face of an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world, education can make the difference as to whether people embrace the challenges they are confronted with or whether they are defeated by them. And in an era characterised by a new explosion of scientific knowledge and a growing array of complex societal problems, it is appropriate that curricula should continue to evolve, perhaps in radical ways.” My gut feeling is that ‘radical’ is the perfect road map for the future.

We need to prepare agents for transformation, we need to prepare learner proficiencies that have broader perspectives that are not so much contingent upon knowing, as being able to identify, tag, and absorb new knowledge, to appreciate its purposes, its limitations, and to be prepared to ask questions capable of taking their understanding further. Not knowing is not so bad, but not recognizing possibilities, consequences, and eventualities, in this dynamic time we live in, may prove indefensible in what is an increasingly cognitive environment.

Confronted with curriculum overload, maintaining their balance of personal discipline, educational objectives, familial and social imperatives is difficult, and even more so when mindful of the needs of physiological sustenance, safe environment, love and self-esteem necessary to be the best one can be, academically. ‘Edu-babble?’ Maybe, however to put into a hierarchy the skills we need to equip our current and future learners with future-proofed skill-sets and attitudes.

Let’s start with Francis Bacon’s “knowledge is power,” quote, as being currently ‘en vogue.’ Yet we don’t prioritise knowledge as much as we are fixated on memorisation as an examination process. We still teach, ‘old school,’ that knowledge and understanding are necessities, and they are, but only to the extent that information informs knowledge, which is, in turn, the key to understanding.

Wisdom though, is what we can develop through teaching with an open mind, allowing them to access all the knowledge of the monster that the World Wide Web has become. Well, not really a pestilential monster, but more like a Shrek really, a congenial monstrous friend, a force for good. I am convinced that, not only is understanding necessary, and knowledge is knowing what to say, while wisdom... is knowing when to say it.