Jean-François Rischard, a former vice president of the World Bank and the best-selling author of High Noon, told the audience that the world needs a "new generation of students" who are more creative and collaborative in their approach to tackling global problems such as the warming of the planet, poverty, financial instability, water shortages, and biodiversity breakdowns.
The speech was heavy on the global big picture, with charts, diagrams, and lists on a large screen on the stage, but there were not a lot of specifics about how education, and more specifically, educational technology would help solve those problems.
But near the end of the presentation, Rischard called on those in the audience and educators worldwide to engage in the kinds of changes that would help tackle the world's most pressing issues. "We need a new generation with far more knowledge, much better skills, and a different mindset," he said. "This has to come from heads of states, this has to come from you, educators."
He argued that if schools took the approach of creating a more multidisciplinary and multicultural curriculum centered on solving the biggest global problems, the result would be better schools producing more creative, analytical, and collaborative students who would grow up to be far more effective than the present generation of adults in addressing the fast-changing and increasingly complex issues of today and tomorrow.
But, he said, "institutions of education tend to be much more change resistant when they should be the opposite." That comment drew loud applause.
