In the blog entry “The Mob Rules: The Laws of Five, ” the author gives examples of how people, communicating through a global network, are changing the way that tasks have been done traditionally. The five rules for the Mob are:

1. The mob is everywhere.
2. The mob is faster, stronger, and smarter than you are.
3. Advertising is a form of censorship.
4. The mob does not need a business model.
5. Make networks happen.

What does it mean to have a mob? There are several definitions for the word mob, most of which have a negative connotation. I believe that the author is representing the word mob as “the common people; the masses; populace or multitude.” He does not portray the mob as violent, lawless, or criminal. The mob is a collection of people, with access to devices which enable them to communicate with each other, who then exchange knowledge. Knowledge/information is the product, and communication is how you “sell” it. So is Marc Pesce the mob leader? Yes and no. A leader is one who leads, who sets the stage for others to follow, yet a leader is also part of a group. The last rule is to make networks happen. The goal is to keep connecting people (right now there are over 3 billion with access to the connection network). It is like moving toward a Utopian society, where people have equal social standing, forgoing the normal hierarchical view that has existed for thousands of years. But is it realistic? Maybe….

So how does this idea relate to education? to learning? to equity? Well, I don’t think that the current educational system has followed the enormous growth in communication that the business world has experienced. Educators are very resistant to change, and this is evident by the number of teachers who have not embraced technology. But daring to dream, if this mob’s enthusiasm were to take over the business of education, this is what I would hope to see…students having a choice as to the teachers who teach their lesson…through podcasting, places like TeacherTube, visiting web sites, blogs, virtual classrooms; students enthusiastic about what they have learned, and eager to share it with their friends via email or IM (Yeah, I just found this great calculus discussion site, you have to check it out); educators constantly collaborating, coming up with relevant projects that truly do have a positive impact on student learning; universities being able to graduate students that employers feel are adequately prepared for the workplace; and employers being happy with the quality of college graduates. Students would be on a more equitable footing because there is less discrimination in the virtual world, people are not judged by their appearance, but rather on their communication skills and ideas presented, gender is not such a limiting factor. Learning could be endless, people decide how much learning they wish to achieve, yet there would be minimum competency tests that are used uniformly on a national and international scale. Students who struggled would be given extra attention by others in the virtual community. We still need teachers, to write and record the lessons, to engage the students in the classroom, but the information would come from the network.  Learning would not be limited to the four walls of the classroom.