WHAT IF INSTEAD of going to college for four years when you turned 18, you could spread six years of undergraduate study over a lifetime? And rather than declare a major, you would declare a mission and then craft your education around it? Those are a couple of the transformative ideas folks have been mind-melding about at the d.school (formally, the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford).
A yearlong project aimed at developing "provocations" to stimulate discussion, "Stanford 2025" was unveiled last spring during two interactive sessions that invited participants to imagine what higher education might look like a decade ahead. The hypothetical—but artfully conceived—Stanford of the future had four prongs:
› OPEN LOOP UNIVERSITY. This notion upends the traditional model of four years of college following high school by enabling six years over a lifetime, with students enrolling at a variety of ages.
› PACED EDUCATION. Forget classes that progress by a set schedule. Think in terms of coursework paced to individual readiness.
› AXIS FLIP. Instead of accumulating knowledge discipline by discipline, students would focus on acquiring transferable skills and so-called competencies (quantitative reasoning and aesthetic interpretation, for example).
› PURPOSE LEARNING. Declare a mission rather than a major. Behavior economics and urban studies? Substitute, as one person suggested, "create sustainable architecture and health in urban centers around the globe." East Asian studies? Let's go with "impact the dialogue between East and West."
If you were choosing a major today, how would you reframe it as a mission? Share your thoughts with us through email, or Tweet/Instagram your mission using #Stanford2025.
