Developing Student Profiles through Blockchain Technology by Mitchell

Developing Student Profiles through Blockchain Technology by Mitchell - February 2018 Scholarship Essay

Throughout history, humans have made bold predictions of how far technology will change our society in a matter of decades. The twentieth century imagined hover-boards, mobile phones, self-driving cars and more. While some of these gadgets like hover-boards may still be years away, mobile phones are integral to today’s society and everyday we are getting closer to the perfection of autonomous automobiles. These technological predictions were made possible by the optimism of automobile advancement that existed during the mid 1900’s. Applying this mindset to today’s technology, a relatively unknown advancement today that I believe will be essential to the year 2038’s education system is the blockchain.
Since many American industries are built on historical principles, their foundations are becoming outdated. The clearest example of this can be seen in the financial industry, in which large banks can charge enormous fees as a third party intermediary between you and your money. This ancient practice has disgruntled society to the point where we have become interested in cryptocurrency, which is a new concept of storing digital currency on a decentralized system to put the power back into the people. This brave new technology is made possible because of its technological foundation: the blockchain. The blockchain is an immutable and decentralized public ledger that records a history of actions. The clearest use for the blockchain is in the financial industry, however the permanent and public nature of this chain brings up enormous potential for use in other industries.
When adopting a new technology for use in a public sector, the government needs to determine that the benefits will outweigh the costs. Today. the education industry receives over $500 billion from the US government, a majority of which goes directly to a series of overheads. The schools must think about how much they have to spend per child so that they can calculate an overall budget. At the rate at which blockchain is growing acceptance, we may assume that by 2038, the US government will have acknowledged its potential. With government acceptance, the blockchain could be applied to every overhead that a school must deal with. When a new student registers, they would be given a student ID card that is “placed on the blockchain”. By requiring this ID to be used for most school actions, we can build a complete profile for each student. From here we can track everything from the student’s attendance to the amount of lunches they eat to even the amount of time that they personally need from the teacher. Similar to how a business aims to build customer profiles (through Know Your Customer mandates), this student profile would reveal loads of useful information that can allow schools to create more accurate budgets that reflect the true needs of their students.
In conclusion, technology has grown exponentially and the potential for current systems to expand is gargantuan. The education system is an industry plagued with redundancy, underutilized assets, and mismanaged funds that is more than ready for a change of pace. By the year 2038, technological interfaces will be so prevalent through our society that it will become ignorant to not adapt. Blockchain has the capability to greatly improve the efficiency of any industry due to its transparent and historical components. Applying a blockchain layer to this industry creates the opportunity for a school to better understand its patrons’ financial needs and how to best allocate its funds towards them.