Jack Ma (Alibaba) on education

At the 2018 World Economic Forum in Davos, Jack Ma of Alibaba was asked

what his views on education are, as a trained teacher. What followed was a compelling plea: “Being a teacher does not mean ‘I know better than you’, but ‘I know better because I have learned from others’. A teacher must never stop learning.” He adds: “If we do not change the way we teach, 30 years from now we will be in trouble.” He bases his statement on digitalisation, which could destroy up to 800 million jobs by 2030.

We cannot teach our kids to compete with machines.

The education system is based on passing on the knowledge of the past 200 years, says the head of the world’s largest trading group. Jack Ma argues that children should learn something unique that machines can never do, and he gives examples. What matters is:

Values, believing, independent thinking, teamwork, care for others – things that cannot be conveyed by knowledge alone.

But how? The company founder is convinced:

“Sports, music, painting, art (…). That is how we make sure humans are different. Everything we teach should be different from machines. If the machine can do it better, we have to think about it.”

Why is this a successful statement?

The discussion and the arguments are nothing new, but Jack Ma gets his argument across to the point. He doesn’t beat about the bush and doesn’t bore with figures. His core message becomes clear in a few sentences: he says where he sees the problems and what solutions there are.