“Why can’t we analyse Game of Thrones instead of The Merchant of Venice?”

My digital native son has always expressed his teen-spirited reluctance to embrace education that massively rewards content recall at the expense of effective learning. Any lapse at school would be blown out of proportion. I could only resort to nuancing his glaring truth. Recently, he came up with yet another statement of unconventional wisdom: “why can’t we analyse Game of Thrones instead of The Merchant of Venice?” Mindful academics at universities do use, say, more contemporary Blade Runner as support after all. This time I was floored. William Shakespeare, or any other writer or subject for that matter, however distinguished, that fails the connection test will struggle to spark the desired curiosity conducive to the ultimate goal: coaching to develop discernment and skills to blend analytics and intuition (thank you Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist of judgment and decision-making) in savviest fashion. Silo mentality, uncreative mindset and pedantism won’t smart us up, will they? Even business schools are switching to experiential learning in a bid to stay relevant. Will we survive the onslaught of artificial intelligence without holistically revisiting our approach to education? With mainstay a pertinent curriculum and recalibrated teachers. More bluntly, let us proceed with reform, not for reform’s sake. It is not a challenge exclusive to Mauritius. But still too few worldwide are bracing themselves to defuse the social time bomb while catering for the welfare of future active adults when a majority of today's job descriptions are expected to disappear.