When
World Health Medical School Founder Dr. David Hall traveled to Africa
in 1972, he was deeply struck by the widespread signs of entrenched
human hardship. Every day, poverty-stricken children and adults
approached him, desperate to sell anything they could to a comparatively
affluent foreigner. But it was obvious to Dr. Hall that even trucks
full of money would do little long term to ameliorate the suffering
he was witnessing. Like so many others who’ve traveled halfway around
the world – and a universe away from the comforts of a Western home
– Dr. Hall struggled with a sense of helplessness and a desire to improve
the lives of the people he met.
Poverty. Illiteracy. Homelessness. Disease. In Africa, both the degree
and the inevitable results of social dysfunction seemed obvious and
overwhelming. But as Dr. Hall reflected on the problems he’d observed
in his travels, he realized that many of the same problems existed in
the United States… and that at home, just as in Africa, money was an
incomplete solution. To make a lasting difference, it would be necessary
to address the roots – not just the symptoms – of social dysfunction.
Over the years that followed, Dr. Hall narrowed his focus on these
roots of societal failures in three primary areas: communication, education,
and health care. He came to see that these areas are intertwined
and interdependent – that a weakness in any one contributed to inevitable
breakdowns in the others. For example, the need for people to live near
their physical workplace restricts the ability to hire the best staff.
The requirement for expansive physical campuses and complex support
structures is an obstacle to creating efficient schools.
But today, the Internet carves paths around these bottlenecks.
It is becoming technologically possible for anyone to work – and learn
– from virtually anywhere, anytime. And this makes it possible to truly
rethink and restructure the way we educate.
What if education didn’t have to stay locked inside brick-and-mortar
buildings with only limited space for students? What if traditional
schools were freed to focus more on building the “whole person” than
on imparting facts? What if the daunting volumes of unfamiliar information
facing students could be packaged and presented in a way that insured
rather than inhibited absorption?
What if a virtual school and a
system of accelerated learning could help institutional
schools overcome the burden of "teaching to the test"?
This is the vision of Dr. Hall – a vision now shared by a number
of dedicated educators, writers, and technology experts.
And it is the premise – and the promise – of Free World U.