One of my biggest takeaways from this week’s readings is that
we as teachers are not using the “flattening” of the Earth to our advantage or
globalization to our advantage to nearly the degree most of us could be.
This was illustrated to me in part by how much I learned
reading the article “It’s
a Flat World After All,’ from which the term “flattening” used above was
coined. The author argues that because of globalization the world has become an
even “flat” playing field. I don’t know that our world is as globalized as
Thomas Friedman argues it is. Several other people make good arguments about
how it is not, such as Pankaj Ghemawat in his TED talk “Actually,
the world isn’t flat.” Regardless of how flat the Earth is at this point, I
think most people agree that globalization is increasing.
In the same article linked above, Friedman quoted Bill Gates who
said
“When I compare our high
schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I am terrified for our work
force of tomorrow. In math and science, our fourth graders are among the top
students in the world. By eighth grade, they're in the middle of the pack. By
12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized
nations.”
This then begs the question, what do we do now? How do we as
educators prepare our students?
To answer this question we need to look at places like India
and China where students are studying and using the technology they have to
learn and grow and develop. Not to look at cat pictures. The amount of technology
and information students today have at their fingertips constantly amazes me. I
had to look things up in books and hope they had it and it wasn’t out of date.
Then we got the internet and we were amazed at how fast we could get information.
We would boot up the computer, maybe do something else while it got itself
turned on, then wait for the dial up stuff to go through, and then wait for
each (very basic) web page to load.
I now have a smart phone in my pocket at almost all times and
I think I have begun to take the access to information for granted. It makes
sense, as we become accustomed to something, we begin to take it for granted.
That is human nature, but reading this was a good reminder of how much power we
have in our back pockets.
Our students have this power. They may not all have a smart phone
or a computer or internet at home, but most of them have something and all of
them have access at school and libraries.
One problem lies in how few of our students take advantage of
this access.
So many of my students have very little drive and engagement
in school. I see two main reasons for this. 1. They are middle class and assume
they will continue to be regardless of whether or not they put in much effort
beyond passing their classes or 2. They are poor or highly impacted in other
ways and have lost any hope that there is more out there in the world for them.
We as teachers have a responsibility to help our students see
that they will need to be able to compete with people from around the world and
that they have the capability and if needed the support to do so if they decide
to.
So the question becomes how do we help these types of
learners?
How do we help them understand the competition they will be
up against to help them take their work more seriously? How do help them
understand that they have the power to compete and to do well? How do we engage
them in learning and developing when they would rather be playing fortnite?
I don’t know that I have an answer right now. I agree that
our schools need some drastic changes and I believe things like Project Based
Learning and Expeditionary Learning are helping some schools head in the right
direction, but it’s not enough.
I don’t feel like I have a lot of answers right now, however,
I also think our students deserve to know the truth about our and their places in
the greater global world and they deserve teachers who will tell the truth and
then empower them and help them figure out how to make the most of it and their
lives.
Hi Rose,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your work. I enjoyed reading your post!
It's funny, but almost everyone has written something about how we are not utilizing the potential for global connection as much as we can be. For some reason, I have taken this "lack" to mean not that we are under-performing, but that we have over-promised. It's leading me to some interesting thoughts that I will have to develop in the final post.
Unlike some of your class colleagues, you seem to embrace the "compete" paradigm in Friedman (a lot of others have pointed out the possibility of imagining social relations along more cooperative lines). The way in which you do this makes sense. I would argue that the question is not so much how we engage learners as it is how we motivate them. For as you say, it's either a learned self-entitlement or a learned helplessness that is holding back so many children right now. The question seems to be how we can "pull back the curtain" for them so that they can see the world and their future for what it might be.
At this point, I have to admit I don't see many other options than simply saying to kids: "fine, you don't want to be in school, don't come!" We can't "force" creativity or innovation. We know it simply flows when people are excited and in those "spiky" environments that Florida talks about--the kind where good ideas and opportunities seem to simply float in the air for the taking.
As (7-12) educators, maybe we have to admit we've lost the battle--Apple has won. The pocket device is not something we can compete with. So let's not try. Young adults have to come to realize the limits of their own world before they will have any use for educators and formal learning. Ages 13-20 (or so) do need a totally different approach. Service learning, adventure learning, expeditionary learning, internships--these seem increasingly like the options we will need to turn to, with lots of coaching on how to stay grounded, how to stay in the present, and how to turn off our phones and social media accounts for certain periods of the day.
Sorry, you got me off on a rant! It's only because I share your concerns about what is happening in secondary education these days. (I think elementary education is still mostly a workable model.) I hope you will continue to dream boldly, lead well, and tell kids the truth. It's certainly not coming from many other sources--and parents need all the help they can get!
Thanks again,
Kyle
Like many of my colleagues, I would love to re-imagine society to be more cooperative, but I don't think that's possible where we are right now so I want to work within the framework we do have.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love your rant!
I agree we've lost the battle and I think we need a completely different approach. I have a lot of ideas (like a lot!), but I think we need to completely upend secondary education. I think we are going to need to use the options you've mentioned along with going competency based and providing different avenues for how to finish school.
I go back and forth between wanting to try to pen my own school and wanting to make this work within current public education systems. Meaning I have issues with charter schools and thus don't want to go that route and I believe in public education, but I'm not sure how make some of my ideas work on a broader level bigger than within my individual classroom.