To all people:

The most fundamental impact of a learn to earn ecosystem is to reduce inequality in learning opportunities at world scale. Everyone has the right to education was declared a fundamental human right in 1948. By allowing everyone to generate sufficient direct income through learning, another historic milestone emerges at the horizon. With that, we will be able to revise article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as follows:

Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be a direct source of income for people at all stages of life.

Each of us explores the world differently. There is no one pathway that any two people on earth will take. Of course, people would like to think that this is the case because we grow up in the same hood, go to the same school, get inspired by long-term friends, partners and spouses, work with the same company, or study the same subject at the same university, vote for the same party, or go to the same parties. All this brings us together and creates the social networks that we live in, that we keep close or escape from. But when it comes to the pathways that we take to make sense of the world we truly create our individual learning path. In fact, each of us creates a unique learning-fingerprint.

Incumbent future generations learn in other ways than current leaders of societies. Make no mistake — these young people are as much interested in information and knowledge than older people are. Yet they use different platforms and tools, which are often a cause for intense public debate mainly among traditionalists who glorify the past. This is always an ill-suited compass for the future of our societies when it excludes that a blend of different ways of learning is a viable option. Young people know that as they grow up in two different systems. And change-makers know that as they promote the benefits of systems that change. Change is inherent to the world of learning. Yet, we are at the doorstep of a fundamental change of the entire learning system — a world beyond just basic education.

A world beyond just basic education overcomes the tragedy of education. This is that it allows some people to thrive while many are falling behind. Despite a slow shift over the last decade in providing more people the privilege to learn and get educated, limited educational opportunities prevail for the vast majority of people. This is because education is too expensive to opt for. A paradigm shift will reverse the status quo in which many people are cut off the learning ecosystem because they don’t have sufficient funds to pay for education, or no time for learning as they need to generate an income to make ends meet. The most vulnerable among them are …

• the more than 800 million people who have less than US$2 available per day, who are part of
• the six billion people around the world who have to live off less than US$ 10 per day;
• the 1,2 billion people around the world who haven’t had the chance to learn how to read or write – skills that are so fundamental for changing a person’s chances to live a better life.

The L|EARN movement wants those billions of people across the globe to have the opportunity to generate a basic income from learning what they love the most. We want people to learn what they love, earn real world currency (fiat or crypto) along the way, and use it to thrive and live the life they want. L|EARN powers the love of life.

A world beyond just basic education is one in which learning not only includes what happens in schools, universities, or on digital educational platforms. That is because throughout their entire lives people spent more time learning outside of educational institutions than inside. Learning from friends and peers, reading, watching, playing, et cetera, we create our unique learning paths. The capabilities and skills attained along these ways are valuable for society. Therefore, people must be able to earn from these ways of learning, too. Thus, our learning is earning ecosystem recognizes both what we learn inside and outside of current educational institutions. This is a world beyond just basic education.

A world beyond just basic education is a sustainable world of lifelong learning. This is a world in which learning is reconsidered in a new way: people directly generate income for skills attained through their most favorite learning experiences. All of this is possible today, and we simply cannot afford to miss this huge opportunity. It will be a joint effort!