The Inequality of Equality

We bandy about the expression that there should be equal opportunity for everyone, and yet in reality that is a myth. For many people in developing countries access to quality higher education is still unavailable and unaffordable.

It’s estimated that as much as 40% of the world’s population don’t have access to education in a language they speak or understand. That’s over 2 billion people. This creates a great opportunity for a global language that can connect a global need with an already established solution.

Take for example the continent of Africa. African countries that have many different native languages, and sometimes no teachers or textbooks to teach in these languages.

Common language

Language is the ability to communicate with others, understand what they are saying and execute an accurate action based on that understanding. I’d like to talk about English, and why it poses such a credible opportunity for education and leveling the education playing field.

English is a global language. More than 350 million people around the world speak English as a first language and more than 400 million speaking it as a second language. You find English speakers in most countries around the world. What this means, is that in most countries there will be people able to connect with students via English.

So what opportunity does this create? Let’s build education platforms that enable students rather than debilitating them with debt. EnglishForward.com is currently raising funds to build a blockchain app with a tokenized incentive for users to learn English

A sample of actions students would take with an English Forward blockchain app:

Let’s have a look through the eyes of our Indian student, Saanvi, as she uses a practical sample of actions that you can take today when on English Forward:

Saanvi walks home from school, singing to her herself as she skips down the sidewalk. She is so happy today, as she got an A in her English exam.

“Pita” she shouts to her father selling oranges from his small stall on the road near the Ganesh Mandir temple, “I got an A”

“That’s my girl Saanvi, well done!”

She arrives home and sits down to do her homework. Her home screen is the EnglishForward.com Q&A page. She logs in and her interaction with the app goes like this:

Saanvi posts a question. (The question could be a “please translate” or “please explain” type question. And it can be for academic/studies purposes, career/professional purposes or personal/travel/social life purposes. And the question could be from a very introductory English level (1 out of 10) or a native English speaker looking for grammar or word usage suggestions. The request could be grammatical and complex, simple words and semantics, translation and similar.)

She asks, “You would need to be a superb amazon in order to tame her. She has this wild character. Is this sentence correct? ” hits send and goes to have her tea.

Twenty minutes later she picks up her cell phone and looks at her EnglishForward app. Her questions have been answered by a teacher and she already has 27 views from other students on the app.

How will she feel with the English Forward blockchain app?

She is really excited as she knows she is earning while she is learning. This is how she is rewarded by the app

• Saanvi posts a question and that question gains a view count (similar to Quora). After X views, the system rewards Y tokens for contribution/participation. This will be based on a fractional revenue sharing model (think of Spotify, based on the number of song listens, they determine how they pay record labels for that content). Payments occur in crypto.
• A teacher posts an answer to Saanvi’s question. A similar contribution/participation calculation occurs but at a higher rate. Valuable and detailed, correct answers are more valuable than questions.

Saanvi then logs into the English Forward online tutoring portal where she has gone through the following process prior to choosing her ideal English tutor

• Saanvi explored members tagged as English Forward Professionals under sub-category tags such as translation, interpretation, native English, tutor or academic professor etc. She had a look through their profiles (a comprehensive, modern developed profile page). After a long deliberation, she decides to hire a tutor (similar to Upwork or Clarity.fm or LiveCoach etc). The transaction can occur based on fiat or crypto.
• It was a perfect match and she connects well with the tutor
• Saanvi pays in FIAT or in the tokens she has earned in the app.

The world has many English speakers that can mentor and teach elementary English. Let’s encourage them to join the mission of educating the world.

For the majority of the world’s population, higher education is unaffordable. The beauty of a blockchain education system (tokenized) is that it helps greatly in this area.

Let’s look at some stats from the US for tuition fees

• from 1988 to 2018, tuition for four-year college degrees at public institutions increased by a staggering 213 percent  ($3,190 in 1988 to $9,828 during the 2017-18 academic year)
• tuition at private not-for-profit colleges went up $15,160 in 1988 to $34,740 for 2017-18, a 129 percent increase

The number one reason for students not completing their degrees and leaving is financial.

But listen to this: the cost of remaining is also mind-boggling: around 70% of college students graduate with debt

• average student debt of  $37,172 owed at the end of a 4-year degree
• this was around $ 17,172 in 2005 (up by $20,000)
• monthly payments on these loans have increased from about, $227 in 2005, to $393 a month in 2016.

The possibility of completing your studies and not having a mountain of debt hanging over your head for years is made possible with a blockchain and crypto application.

Is this the opportunity of getting a quality education and earning while you are learning? Join us and let’s open more minds to blockchain as a solution to global educational opportunities.

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