EDWARD DE BONO'S MESSAGE
15th June 1998

The Edward de Bono Millennium Conference

The Edward de Bono Millenium Conference is now under way. Last week I set some basic tasks and the response to those tasks will be published presently to members of the Conference.

It is not my intention to set a new task everyweek, nor to devote the weekly message exclusively to the Conference which will have its own life and place. To get things started, however, I want, this week, to set the broad task of considering EDUCATION into the next millennium. Recent American Presidents and British Prime Ministers have all stressed education. Tony Blair even declared that his three priorities are "education, education, and eductaion". Then, very little gets done.

It has to be wondered whether education can ever reform itself to be relevant to today's needs. There are many wonderful and highly motivated people in education - I know that from experience. But they are locked into a self-fulfilling system that makes change very difficult indeed. Peripheral experiments are permitted but fundamental changes are almost impossible. It is possible to wonder whether education is too important to be left to educators. Teams of people within the system may not be able to see the changes that are required.

So this topic is now open to members of the Conference. I shall shortly contribute my own, rather strong, views on the inadequacy of education today. Why is it that students in the UK know most of the neames of Henry VIII's wives, perhaps even the date of the Treaty of Utrecht - but have not the faintest idea how the corner shop works or how "value is created in society"?

Edward de Bono
in Australia
15th June 1998