Education is more important today than ever for the children who are competing against children around the world for and jobs. In order for the United States to hold a high standing, we need to change things internally in the classroom. When we remain focused on intelligence and testing, we miss out on an important truism: The most intelligent people aren’t the ones who score advanced proficient on their NJASK test. Curiosity and creativity are the new intelligences that will promote a student to a better job in the future; these two traits in the classroom are better indicators of students' willingness to transfer knowledge into long-term interests and careers. We need to ask whether the goals of teaching children is for them to do well on tests or find creative ways to problem solve societies most challenges and complex problems. If it is the latter, the obsession with intelligence and standardized tests needs to be re-considered and curiosity and creativity needs to be brought to the forefront in the classroom.
Another theme that needs to be addressed is leadership in our schools. I don’t feel that the leadership we have today in education is going to help the students of tomorrow. In looking at the global trends that we see today in society and all the technological advances that are changing right before our eyes and I can’t help but feel discouraged. From looking at research that continues to blow my mind I don’t know how we are going to educate students for tomorrow when we are now educating them for a job in the 1960’s. I feel we need a radical change in leadership is needed. Someone up in the hire ranks needs to heed the warning that even Bill Gates is saying for some time, “Our Schools are becoming obsolete”.
Finally the idea of school itself may need a change. Students are learning more and more through the internet and gaming. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/1879019.stm. "Adventure, quest and simulation type games have a lot of benefit - they're quite complex and create a context in which children can develop important skills," said Professor McFarlane. I strongly feel that this is an avenue in which the education needs to explore. More and more students are connected worldwide with each other. To connect these pools of knowledge in the classroom through gaming and the internet could only help students realize the vastness and opportunity that awaits them when they graduate.
“When the rate of change outside an organization is greater than the rate of change inside an organization, the end is in sight”-Jack Welch
This quote rings true for me as I think about public education in exponential times that we face.
Thanks so much for the URL link to the article about gaming and simulation in the classroom. Very interesting. I enjoyed your post a lot. It's quite clear that you are deeply engaged in these ideas and are devoting considerable energy to finding your way through them, as so many are these days.
ReplyDeleteI agree that leadership is a vital and critical element in the equation, and I share your concern that we may not be getting all the leaders we need. However, when I encounter someone like you, and some of the others in these classes I teach, I'm not quite as worried.
Our challenge now, right where we find ourselves today, is to begin taking steps in our current settings that lead in the directions you have identified. I'm eager to learn your thoughts about steps you can take now as we continue through this course.