The “study” habits that are being taught in grammar and high school are antithetical to auto-didacticism, and the resultant losses of creative and innovative initiative have already been well documented and spoken of at TED.
But Gever’s feeling is that unless we figure out how to teach children to become life-long voracious self-directed learners, we’ll never develop education patterns that are resilient to strife, poverty, and ideology while still producing deeply passionate PhD-level students. Educational infrastructure is being targeted in conflict zones, education funding at the state and national level is being slashed, and the result is a continued disenfranchisement of another generation of apathetic learners. He thinks we can do better, and he thinks he knows where to start.