Stephanie zu Guttenberg: “Since the first PISA studies 25 years ago, we have slept through the times.”

Sometimes she has the impression of visiting a museum when she enters a German school, says Stephanie zu Guttenberg. For 20 years, she has been involved in digital education and media education as an author and speaker.

“Take a look around the schools: the teacher draws on the blackboard with chalk, the overhead projector is in constant use, the classrooms look just like they did when I was in school. And that was a few years ago now.”  She says this with genuine concern, which is well-founded from her point of view. The children in Germany are not being prepared by the school system for the digital future, which is already here.

Education revolution? Later.

Actually, everyone knows that the education revolution is urgently needed, but for some reason nothing is happening.

What’s the reason? Stephanie zu Guttenberg sees several reasons.

If necessity is the mother of all change, Germany has long been able to turn a blind eye. In addition, Germans are so used to the state taking care of everything that they have simply waited and seen. Moreover, education issues have long been dust catchers, and you can’t win elections with them, because it takes time to reform education. Four years would not be much. She also cites federalism as a stumbling block, because if everyone is allowed to do something different, they do it, and no one begrudges the other the butter on their sandwich. Money issue? Reforming ailing schools is expensive. Meanwhile, the cost of doing so has gone through the roof, and Stephanie zu Guttenberg dares to ask, “Where does this money actually go that’s supposed to be used for education?”

Because she lived in the U.S. for 10 years, she also knows the American school system. Clearly, she says, from her point of view, “the U.S. is not the promised land.” However, back then, her children were already working in 5th grade with a laptop provided by the school. Social media was mandatory and a standard knowledge of coding was also part of the basic education.

Action – now!

Germany had put itself at a gigantic competitive disadvantage. To the disadvantage of the youth. “The world of today and tomorrow is not waiting for just anyone who is not digitally trained,” says Stephanie zu Guttenberg.

In her lectures, she speaks passionately about how education could function in a digitized world. Education must make people fit for the future. Today, she says, the knowledge is already there; today, it’s about dealing with it, critical thinking and creativity as opposed to conformity.

Stephanie zu Guttenberg is a digital education expert, mother and author. Her current book is called “We can do better!”. She is committed to a positive approach to digitization. The mother of two lived with her family in the USA for ten years and analyzed the education system there as well as in other countries. She wants to pass on her know-how in order to design a better society together.

She also takes up the cudgels for diversity in education, especially to promote practical training again; not everyone has to graduate from high school, study and then often enough not know what can be done with it.

In her lectures she talks about the topics America and Education, Cybercrime, the Digital Transformation and Digital Disruption, Europe and Society, Global Trends, Innovations, Lifestyle and Future Generations.

More about Stephanie zu Guttenberg’s specific speaking topics here at Premium Speakers, welcome@premium-speakers.com or 1 (704) 804 1054