Earlier this week I watched a Ted Talk from Victoria local Jeff Hopkins titled “Education as if people mattered”. Throughout this 12 minute video Jeff explores how as society advances, our education remains the same, unchanged and stuck in the past. A massive part of this is how we learn, Jeff suggests the current education system is focused on knowing about rather than actually knowing something. While curriculum may advance and evolve in terms of the information being provided, the systems and ways of presenting the material have yet to advance. I personally found this idea fascinating as it made me reflect on my own learning experiences and led me to recall a realisation I made some months ago. I know for me to learn at my best I have to be engaged and have genuine interest in the subject. It took me until nearly the end of my senior year of high school to realise this after reflecting on my favourite classes and topics in high school were all classes in which I was engaged and performed well because I actually knew the subject rather then just knew of it. While this is just my personal experience, in my eyes even from a practical standpoint Jeff’s way of learning would be more effective. Currently we have thousands of youth learning the same specific details on the same subjects. This results in only some knowledge being passed on while the rest that isn’t taught is left undiscovered. If instead students had a wide selection of courses to choose from in which they had passion for they could perform deep dives, truly learning the subject and allowing for a greater distribution of knowledge. Jeff’s Ted Talk was not just entertaining but vital to truly grasp the issues in the current school system, it aligns with my personal experiences and I look forward to referencing it more in the future!