ALU’s Founder Fred Swaniker recently spoke at the PopTech conference in Camden, Maine on the theme “hybrid.” This year’s conference looked at how society can choose to “do both” instead of just one or the other because “no longer do art and science, form and function, and local and global operate independently.”
In his talk, Swaniker explores how limitations such as money, time and legacy will allow higher education institutions in Africa such as ALU, to leapfrog education and build the university of the future. For example, instead of choosing a major students can be given the opportunity to declare a mission for their lives and spend their time in school curating knowledge on how to fulfill that mission. This way they won’t have to choose to study one thing or the other.
“Declare a mission, not major. Don’t be forced to pick just one major. Too often in life we submit to the tyranny of choice. We believe that we need to choose one path or another. But I really believe that at the intersection of ideas, creativity that comes from bringing together people, passions and cultures, you can really change the world so let’s go hybrid,” Swaniker said.
Check out his presentation below.