The Push way of doing things is the ruling paradigm in our planning and results-oriented society. Taking the example of manufacturing, the process goes as follows: design a product, find the most effective way to manufacture and distribute it, and hope to sell as many units as possible. The main driver of success will be your marketing push of convincing people to purchase your product rather than the competition’s.
Contrast this with coming up with an idea, and then seeing how much excitement and demand you can generate on a crowd-funding platform. If no one seems interested, you know immediately that it’s a non-starter. You can try out many different variations to see what works. Rather than pushing your solution unto the world, you can pull in suggestions, interest, and orders. The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset got its start through Kickstarter, and generated enough excitement to be acquired for $2 billion. Other platforms serve to pull in excitement and demand for top DJs or keynote speakers, and only start producing the event when they’ve sold enough tickets.
Education is also an instructive example of a push system. The curriculum is pushed at students who are told what they need to know in each field. The assumption is that students are not in a position to know what is good for them – this requires the judgment of professionals. The speed of learning is also fixed, even though a curriculum designed for the average student disempowers both those who cannot keep up and those who are being held back because they are not sufficiently challenged. Most of our schools are still nothing more than a production line: students are pushed through an educational program that is pre-defined, evaluated through exams, and rewarded with a degree.
Pull education is based on the needs of learners as articulated by the individual student. Students need to have a clear idea of where they want to go, and ask for the learning programs, educational materials and teacher support they need for their progress. An online platform can be of great value in matching learning needs with teaching offerings.
People with learning needs can find the best teacher to instruct them and mentor their progress. Think about how young people learn to develop romantic relationships: once the need presents itself, they actively search for information, talk to peers and ask advice from those they trust. They learn through experiment, trial, and error. While some pull models of education are clear, it is incredibly difficult to make the shift in practice. The physical infrastructure of schools, including buildings, classrooms and cohorts, is only adequate for a push model.