By Danny Crichton

Since the dawn of the Internet Age, pundits and analysts have researched and debated the changes gripping the global economy.

One particularly interesting change has been the individualization of content. With the wealth of Web sites on the Internet, people are no longer beholden to others to what they read and watch. People buy individual episodes of shows on iTunes, watch videos on YouTube, and read classic novels on Project Gutenberg, all with the click of a mouse.

The success of this individualization has propelled digital content distribution to new levels of ubiquity – and profitability. The good news though is that the ideas behind this transformation are not just applicable to episodes of “Family Guy” but can extend to educate millions of students across the country. The next revolution in education is just around the corner.

Our current system works like this: teachers (or professors, for that matter) gain knowledge in a specific field such as biology or English. They then transmit this knowledge to a class of 15-plus students, who use memorization techniques and classroom experiences to retain the information. This continues ad infinitum, until the student gains enough knowledge to earn a diploma.

The system has been used for quite awhile: almost a millennium in the English-speaking world in fact, with possible connections to Plato’s Academy in 385BC. Sadly, despite centuries of research and advancement, education has barely changed since those early times.  The world has seen Shakespeare, heliocentrism, the Reformation, the Industrial Revolution and a host of other transformative processes change nearly every aspect of society. Now, education is finally going to get its due.

What then is going to change the way we learn? Individualization of content. Instead of being in classes that measure dozens, students will be given more individual control over their studies. Learning English for instance will be drastically different. No longer will everyone read the same books. Students who like the Greeks and Romans will collaborate together over Ovid and Euripides. Those who like Elizabethan England will read Shakespeare and Marlowe.

Undoubtedly, the biggest benefit will come in the math and sciences. Students who can progress quickly will have the full ability to do so. There will no longer be restrictions over how much time is spent on certain subjects, or even what subjects there will be. If a student wants to learn biochemistry in high school, that option will be available.

All of these ideas may seem extreme, unlikely, or even impossible. But three individual pieces have formed, and in the coming years, they will combine into a potent solution to many education issues.

The first of these pieces is choice in curriculum, and no one has a more complete listing than MIT’s OpenCourseWare. The program, originally conceived in 1999, has expanded greatly: there are now more than 1,550 courses in 34 departments, with such titles as “Drawings & Numbers: Five Centuries of Digital Design” and “Intelligence: Practice, Problems and Prospects.” Complete courses include class syllabi, tests, lecture notes, video or audio lectures and assignments.

Soon, high schools will use those open curriculums to improve education options. The system will have two components – those which are student-led and those which are teacher-led. Students who are interested in a topic will be able to design a course of study, with a teacher monitoring progress. On the flip side, teachers will be able to hold classes from the newest and best rated curriculums.

Amazingly, the cost will be negligible. There are now more and more free textbooks, and the quality has risen dramatically in recent years.  Picking a new curriculum will mean clicking a mouse and reading through the nuances.

The second piece to this new system is reproducible lectures and other recordings. A new program called iTunes U allows universities to put their lecture recordings online. Stanford University, Duke University and others have already placed hundreds of classes online. Apple claims that more than half of the top 500 universities in America use the system.

The last piece is online classes. Schools will offer highly individualized courses, and then offer them to anyone in the United States. Class meetings can be held over the Internet, similar to companies who use telecommuting. Accountability would still be in place, and progress reports would be sent to the student’s primary institution.

When all of these ingredients are combined, the revolution in education will take place. Students will have more responsibility over their own futures, and this additional control will mean a greater willingness to learn. Basic liberal arts requirements (four years of English, three years of math, etc.) would still be enforced, but students would have a nearly infinite web of classes in which to fulfill them.

There is no doubt that the technology and the ability to implement this system is available to this country right now. The only thing left is political leadership. Putting together the necessary legal and political framework to allow this education ecosystem to grow and thrive could mean helping millions of students to learn new subjects – and master their favorites.

Danny Crichton graduated last month from Eden Prairie High School. He will be attending Stanford University in the fall.