Schmidt: “Fast learners win.” How about those that never learn?
Mr. Vint Cerf,
Vice President & Chief Internet Evangelist
Google
Dear Vint:
“No good deed goes unpunished.” The “good deeds” of your keynotes for Global Learn Day, and our exchanges since, are the primer for what follows. Knowing how busy you are, this is way too long. But the subject is too important for brevity, especially for those of our cast of mind. So I won’t apologize.
Let me begin.
I. Introduction — Preface Statement {from GoogleJobSite}
“Have you ever imagined applying your education and experience to benefit millions of people around the world? If so ….. We’d love to hear from you.”
Vint, I am taking the above statement to heart with a proposition that I’m optimistic will resonate well with you. It rests on premises on which we both believe: That there is little hope for a “safer, saner world” without significant increases to access to education, worldwide; that there is a heavy value in effective, imaginative advocacy; that those with robust global experiences make good navigators, especially for those in search of hard-to-reach destinations.
This too makes me optimistic — Nobody, anywhere, has been more vocal than you in stating the obvious: That Google’s profits are directly related to the level of education inside every society where it operates.
Thus, this message - this appeal - to you.
The short of it is that Google — a great company with a grand mission — is not coming within a long country mile of matching its rhetoric to “benefit millions” with its (educational) performance; that Eric Schmidt has it exactly right that a “small team running hard” can make “big changes”; that I have uncommon abilities to help raise Google’s image as the planet’s leading advocate for increasing access to learning, worldwide.
The long of it is my contention we are at the tipping point for the launch of a runaway freight train in education deliveries of a kind people like you, Sir John and I have long advocated; that Google has the heft that could power the locomotive; that Google shareholders would profit hugely from the haulage.
The strength of it is that your own position, Google’s mission, its management culture and my advocacy talents make for a terrific match.
What triggered this were the exchanges between you and Sir John (about the need for new thinking about intellectual property rights in the digital age) and Eric Schmidt’s recent comments “that fast learners win”.
In your case, the exchange with Sir John about thorny problems about intellectual property rights, I say, are potent seeds building a brilliant team that would advocate new agreements that would make for significant cost reductions in education deliveries. In Eric’s case, the flip side to his “fast learners win” is that his statement provokes tough, corollary questions: What about those who don’t learn at all? What moral obligation does Google have to them? What profits are left behind when one, two or three billion never touch a keyboard?
These are issues that deserve heavy-duty contemplation, especially by those leading a grand company with a grand mission. They are also like red meat to lions — this stuff attracts rare birds who can make big changes. The kind of people, the kind of changes, that would serve Google very, very well.
With smart helmsmanship, all of it is a good starting point for “small teams running fast”. From such platforms, I say, the next leap is possible — new freight trains of a kind Google should help construct.
II. GOOGLE EDUCATION - Waves or ripples? What do these canaries have to say?
Is Google making the kind of waves it should in the education arena? Given the culture of the company and the benefits to it from really significant reductions in the cost of education, is Google thinking big enough?
Sure….Google Educator is fine. But it ain’t Don King’s Thrilla in Manila - a title fight that ultimately unseated the kingdom of Madison Square Garden, changed sports broadcasting forever and brought enormous profits for both athletes and visionaries.
As I said in every Global Learn Day opening there’s a lot to be learned from guys like Don King — who could put two and two together — and come up with six. Or eight.
Google - underperforming in the Education Arena?
How is Google doing in the education arena? Let’s examine a few canaries that I believe should trouble Google’s leadership.
Let’s start with two canaries inside Google’s Educator that are worth listening to:
Canary One: QTEL
“……five-day programs that combine intensive seminar, lecture, and small-group work. These institutes (sic) will take place at the Golden Gate Club in San Francisco……”
Canary Two: Google Teacher Academy
“…..the Academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google’s free products…..”
Each of the above requires highly qualified, carefully (expensively?) screened American teachers to come to a physical location - on a very limited basis. Neither acknowledges, much less adopts, the fact that distance education and on-line conferences are worth their weight in gold.
Contrast what Google is doing to how Sir John is meeting the challenge “….to enroll a billion new students inside classrooms in 51 countries“.
Is Google thinking in the billions? And if not, why not?
A Quick Comparison
Where Educator’s programs are limited, traditional, USA centric and delivered conventionally face-to-face, Sir John’s are global, heavily collaborative, highly innovative and tailored by way of very imaginative ‘bottom-up/top down’ constructs.
This is not surprising in that Sir John earned his knighthood “changing the landscape of higher education in the UK” .
But for Google, with all it’s size, cash, technology apparatus, and mission to “benefit the world” - the comparison in terms of reach, scope and ambition is astonishing. Even - should I say this? - dumbfounding.
Here are two more canaries that shriek even louder
Canary Three: Senior Management at Google
I find it disappointing that in both the Executive Management Group, and the Google Management Group, there is not one single person with a title such as “Chief Education Evangelist” or “Senior Vice President, Education”.
How does the absence of same square with this from Google’s web site -
“Have you ever imagined applying your education and experience to benefit millions of people around the world? …… We are focused on providing an environment where talented, hard working people are rewarded for contributions to Google and for making the world a better place.” {Larry Page, Google Co-founder, Stanford University}
How does the absence of a “Senior Manager” square with the idea that “education is the killer application of the Net”?
How is it that when one enters the words “education advocate” into Google’s search engine that its own heft does not cause it to glisten with links favorable to Google Education? Do I dare add — Why is it so hard to find your way around the “education” part of the Google site?
Canary Four: From Google Jobs Site:
“We’re looking for the brightest minds in engineering, sales, advertising, business, marketing, product management, and finance to help us develop new technologies, new products and new media formats.”
Engineering. Sales. Advertising. Business. Marketing. Product Management. Finance. New products. New media formats.
Whoa Nelly! What about Education?
Like the dog that didn’t bark, I find it very significant that the word “education” doesn’t appear on some of the most important web pages of the Google site. Am I missing something? Where does “education” rank on the Google totem pole?
How does all this square with the world’s leading search engine for educators all around the world? How does it square with Google’s grand vision “to do well and to do good”?
III. SOME HARD QUESTIONS FOR GOOGLE
Very recently Eric Schmidt said “…fast learners win.”
You bet!
Vint, let me ask you this –When Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt get up every morning, shouldn’t some of their questions be along these lines: “How is Google changing the landscape of education, worldwide? How many brand new students are enrolled because of Google? Are we just a tools and search provider? Or are we a Movement Leader?”
Here are some additional questions for folks lower on the Google totem pole:
Who is keeping track of how many radio stations broadcast Google’s Daily (education) Message?
How many (education) podcasts did Google push out last week?
How can we leverage community radio in ways that are both profitable and have big impact?
How many English language teachers, in how many countries, has Google signed up this week?
If ESL students are the leaders of tomorrow, what plans does Google have for reaching them today?
How many of these could be agents-of-education-change?
Which events should Google’s key people be spotlighting this month?
How can Google’s leadership, across the board, add more intellectual and advocacy muscle?
How many big (education) (sponsor) gorillas have been added, this week? this month?
What’s on the drawing board to have a Google Award in education equal to a Nobel? (and other very imaginative stuff)
How are we doing against the Google Education Benchmarks?
How do we take our Report Card from a C minus, minus, to an A plus plus?
And finally -
Who exactly is in charge of tying all of this to our mission and profit objectives? What place does he or she hold on the Google totem pole?
IV. BRINGING THE GORILLAS TOGETHER - Starting with the Commonwealth of Learning
The two gorillas in education and technology are Google and the Commonwealth of Learning. I say they can leverage off each other in ways that would cause many other gorillas to come aboard. All of this could lead to a runaway freight train crashing barriers to lower costs - and increasing access to learning- all across the globe.
I say Google is in position to put its name on the engine plate for a locomotive that leads - and pulls - this train. I say if we do it right the cash outlays will be modest and the publicity whopping. I say the job isn’t about Google delivering the classrooms. It’s about showcasing those that do. Big time.
V. HOW TO START? - The “Commons” Issue - A good starting point?
Like eating an elephant, issues of such magnitude make for hard choices about where to begin the chew. My suspicion is there is some low-hanging fruit in the pursuit of a widely accepted agreement (and broad use) of “a Commons License”. While the subject is far too complicated to do more than lightly mention, the fact is that you and Sir John pointed the way with these remarks on GLD Ten:
Sir John Daniels: “Can I just chip in that common standards should also include common standards on intellectual property and I think that the Creative Commons model is extremely important.”
Vint Cerf: “What a good point. Thank you for bringing that up Sir John and another non-technical but very, very important element in our digital environment. Our understanding of intellectual property in the digital ages is still very murky and terribly encumbered by old models which don’t adapt well to this new environment.”
In the months since that exchange I have come to a better understanding of this thorny imperative. The importance of the issue is difficult to overstate. In fact, many people for whom I have deep, deep respect argue that without wide adoption of a “good Commons Agreement” the chances for large cost reductions in education delivery are just about zero.
If Google can be a big part of the “Commons” solution I say it will gain a large stride toward reaching its goal to:
“To organize the world’s information
and make it universally accessible and useful.”
My sense is our opening discussions should allow time for brainstorming the “Commons” issue. Traders have good noses. Mine tells me these are the makings for consequential outcomes engineered by people “from Prague to Perth” — people who have been on my radar screen a long, long time.
VI. WHY HIBBS? ….and what’s next?
In the last dozen years I’ve mapped just about every small and large anchorage in the education world. The best of them are rich sources of talent acquisition, broadcasting mechanism, event management, sponsorship opportunity. Also: In my 20’s and 30’s I spent 15 years overseas — eleven of them for Getz, America’s largest trading company. At Getz, I made some (chest pounding) deals people still talk about.
After that, I spent more time with residence abroad to include twenty more years of globe-trotting for uncommon providers that needed a big-thinking middle-man.
Then I heard John Chambers, CISCO’s C.E.O., make a compelling case that “….education and training is the killer application of the Internet.”
Then I “sailed” here, there and everywhere and became convinced that the road to a safer, saner world runs through learning deliveries affordable to all. And that the people I met along the way could power those deliveries.
I may not be Don King…but I know the way to Manila. If anyone can lead a small team to far destinations - it’s me.
I’d like an opportunity to spread some charts on your navigation tables. I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned in ten years of voyaging all the oceans in the education world. I’d like to talk to you about illusions and reality, perception and myth, the role of community radio and the “missing link” between those doing exceptional work in the classroom and those who I think can be profitably, affordably enlisted for the runaway freight train with Google on the engine plate.
I believe if we all sat together we could put two and two together - and come up with eight…or maybe even ten.
That’s what I would like to do.
Sincerely,