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Education is the business of encouragement. This I have learned as a teacher at Greenville Technical College for some three and 20 years now.

The job of teacher is evaluated in words like “instruct,” “demonstrate,” “assign,” and “assess,” among others. And while these verbs are very relevant to the role of teaching, it is interesting to note that the word “education” is derived from the Latin verb “educere,” which means, “to draw out.”

This etymological citation is not intended to lead you down a scholarly path, but rather to veer you off one. I got into the business of education not because I felt inspired, or called, or had a passion for teaching. No, I needed a job at the time, and what I got out of this field has been a lot more than work. The education apple is now ripe for disruption.

When I speak of the product of education here, my concern is more about the delivery system of education than the service mission. The commodity of education has now itself become the subject of evaluation, and the grading mechanism is the scale of value proposition. Education has evolved from a faculty-driven product to a student-customer-driven product.

Once upon a time, the student went to the school where the lesson awaited him. Gradually, the physical institution of the college morphed into a satellite station for broadcasting education. Our commitment to bringing the class to the student at any time or in any place resulted in the medium becoming more important than the message. Convenience drove the school bus right into the home of the student, and online learning attracted many new players ready to confer degrees at a faster pace and a more affordable price.

But earning degrees was clearly becoming more important than learning degrees. Colleges that have long been keepers of the admissions gate now find themselves vying for acceptance from student shoppers setting their own terms.

Meanwhile the market forces of money, opportunity, and technology have been conspiring to undermine the impact of the college degree. Student debt, employer skepticism, and a limitless supply of free accessible online resources are shining the spotlight of accountability on the deliverables of education. There will be casualties as colleges seek to repurpose in a competitive environment that has less tolerance for complacency.

Education will have to make the shift from the primary role of credentialing agency to that of enterprise for personal growth and transformation. We need a recalibration whereby the educator must impress upon the student the value of education and a love of learning. When learning is clearly understood as a gift of self-empowerment, the product of education will become an evolving partnership whereby the student holds a higher stake in the product of success.

In our quest for achievement we have mistakenly identified the stepping stones of our educational system as a pre-destined path for personal accomplishment. Every path we take in life teaches us, and we owe it to ourselves to pursue every opportunity of discovery. The relentless pipeline of information competing for our attention has stifled our sense of wonder and rendered us stagnant receptors.

Yet the true compass of our human evolution has always pointed to the path of seeker. The benefits of learning extend well beyond career development. Learning is to the brain what physical exercise is to the body. Our cognitive well-being operates on a “use it or lose it” premise. Learning is the mental fire in which we forge the essential tools of life – curiosity, adaptability, creativity, humility, and so many more.

Community colleges like Greenville Tech are ecologically designed to cultivate a “we are better together” environment. College should be a respite for the lost, the lonely, the undecided, the individual at any stage of personal development. A community of encouragement will always create a more powerful social and economic impact than an isolated path of academic pursuit.

We learn from each other, we learn with each other, and we learn best in environments that cultivate the many degrees of success, rather than promote the success of degrees. In a world where young people have lost faith in leadership and embraced despair over optimism, there abides a silent but powerful yearning for the guidance of mentors, coaches, and rebuilders of faith in human goodness.

The purpose of education and the college experience will have to adopt a more holistic approach that nurtures the well-being of the student. The college campus of coming days will be a place of regeneration that promotes health, wellness, and goodwill.

Going forth, the scholarly path that we have come to know will be a road less traveled. But the core mission of education, which is the pursuit of possibility, remains constant, and agile education providers positioned to provide the right help at the right time will have plenty of student customers.

The delivery model of education that is designed around access to resources will be absorbed by the chatty and ever-present “Bot” the butler. Hey Google, what is the name of that wise man reputed to have said, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears”? Ah yes, the Buddha, one of our greatest teachers.

Education is the business of encouragement, so come on students, let us take those idle logs of learning that we have been sitting upon for too long now and stack them together, and build a great fire that leaves no one cold and alone and unlit.

Marty Flynn is an instructor and head of the marketing department at Greenville Technical College.