Over the last 10 years, the Silk Road Project’s goal has been to understand and inspire others to understand the world beyond our neighborhoods. We live in a world of 194 countries, more than 6,900 languages and a population of over six billion. With advances in communication and technology, we are more closely interconnected than ever before. What kind of education will prepare students to live on such a planet? While we have relied on standardized tests and quantifiable results, I would propose four fundamental and vitally important priorities for education.

The first priority is a goal shared by musicians and teachers alike: to make the communication of their subject matter memorable so that it can grow and connect to future experiences.

Memorable teaching can inspire and transform a student’s life. Memorable content is key to the second priority, passion-driven education. Education driven by passion awakens us to a world bigger than ourselves and makes us curious. Learning then becomes self-sustaining and transforms a requirement into a desire. Passionate students are a pleasure to teach, and passionate teachers share their knowledge generously: teaching becomes learning and vice versa. Passion-driven education gives students the confidence to discover who they are and how they fit in the world.

The third priority is the development of a disciplined imagination. Imagination draws on all of our intelligences, senses, experiences and intuition to construct possible scenarios. Imagination allows us to transcend our present local reality and envision distant futures. It allows us to think not only about the tools people need today, but also about the tools our children will need to contribute to the world they will share. Imagination is the great engine that powers the arts and the sciences, and it is available for all to use.

Disciplined imagination leads to the final priority, empathy—the ability to put oneself in another’s shoes without prejudgment. Empathy means understanding something deeply enough to appreciate another’s perspective and make unexpected connections. In this compartmentalized world, empathy is the quality that acknowledges our shared identity as members of the human family.

In our complex world, it is crucial that educators have the tools to help students understand not only their own lives, but the broadest possible horizons as well. With sustained practice of these four essential priorities, which are free to all, we can build an environment primed for creative thinking.

Yo-Yo Ma
Artistic Director