In a special edition of the Tes International podcast, yogi and mystic Sadhguru has recorded a discussion on how he believes education must evolve to focus on the “unfolding human genius”.

He posits the notion that education has for too long “misinterpreted memory as intelligence”.

“Largely, education in the last 200 years has been about memory passing off as intelligence. If you can read a silly textbook and remember every word…wow, you will be appreciated as the most intelligent [human] even as a child,” he says.

“[The] only reason many teachers, parents, elders looked valuable in the past is not because of their wisdom, not because of their life sense, but only because they had a certain memory bank that the child did not have.”

Not weighed down by data

He says, though, that now children do have this memory bank - such as Google, and other online resources - there is no need to have to try and learn endless facts and data.

“Data should be carried in the machine - there is no need for human minds to carry this data.”

Furthermore, the rise in machine learning and artificial intelligence also means that the need for humans to carry data for the purpose of interpretation and analysis is also being replaced.

“Artificial intelligence is in the process of evolving. Probably this will evolve much faster because of the pandemic - so what would have happened in the next 10 years will happen in the next three to four years.”

Genius, not scholarship

These are developments that should be welcomed by educators, as it means there is the chance now to teach true wisdom and intellect that truly complements this immediate access to so much data.

“Education should be about unfolding human genius - we must understand this, that intellect can only function out of data; if there is no data, your very sharp intellect still feels helpless. Without data, it cannot function.”

“So I think this is a fantastic time, because probably for the very first time that human genius becomes more valuable than human scholarship.”

Of course, this transformation won’t be easy, but he says that the silver lining from the pandemic is that this time of hardship also offers up a chance for real change - a change that humans may have otherwise been reluctant to truly consider.

“Any change would be difficult when there is no disruption because normally most human beings wouldn’t like to disrupt what is working reasonably well - they would like to keep it going, they don’t want to disrupt. But now that the disruption is happening, this is the time.”

Humanity above all else

He also puts forward the idea that doing this may help humanity create more positive social systems than those that exist at present.

“Right now, the most inhuman things on the planet are done by educated people, not uneducated people. If you go to tribal societies where they are illiterate, there is a certain sense of humanity that is missing in urban societies of this world.

“Wherever there is more education, there is maximum damage, because our idea of education has become all about how to exploit everything.

“The most important thing that needs to happen is education should become about the unfolding of human genius and humanity above everything.”

You can watch below or listen on your podcast platform of choice, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Dan Worth is a senior editor at Tes