9 Billion Schools: Why the World Needs Personalized, Lifelong Learning for All

Every single person on Earth should be considered a school unto him- or herself. That's because, for maximum human flourishing, learning should be a highly personalized experience that lasts an entire lifetime. In the year 2050 there will be about nine billion people on our planet, which means there should be that many "schools" by then, too. The 9 Billion Schools movement seeks to help realize a vision where every person has access to ample and relevant learning opportunities not only during their traditional education years, but throughout their careers as well as in support of their hobbies and passions. One of the book's reviewers summed it up so well: “The challenges facing humanity in the 21st Century are so immense--of planetary scale and import--it's hard to know where to start. But no innovation has the power to unlock more solutions than innovation in education, especially educational innovation that releases the talents of the great scope and diversity of humanity. 9 Billion Schools is not just for education policy, but also for climate policy, food policy, health policy and energy policy. It’s not just about doing what’s right by the aspirations of the nine billion individual humans that will inhabit the Earth in 2050, but it is also about doing what’s right for their posterity and the planet itself.” — Dave Guston, Founding Director and Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University