In 1997, David Thornburg issued a vision for the Future of Education in the year 2020. He noted reasons for updating schooling from the factory model to an information era model in a globalizing economy with a digital divide associated with household income. He argues for schools preparing students for lifelong learning in emerging and dynamic social and economic settings. Most educators accept these situations as fact today.
Changes of this magnitude require a complete rethinking of education … Once truly cheap technologies become commonplace with all students, the tools for lifelong learning will be in place. … lifelong learning is a survival skill.
Thornburg’s comments seem reasonable for 1997. People reinterate and elaborate on them in various forms. Some changes in schooling appear consistent with his observations and encouragement.
Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric, stated “If the rate of change inside an institution is less than the rate of change outside, the end is in sight.” This simple observation leaves me uncomfortable with the rate of change in schooling.
All students in PreK-12 will exit schools before educators realize Thornburg’s vision of schools in 2020. I don’t think any educator wants any student to fail in or out of school. Yet, teachers wait for school administrators to take initiative to change schools, while knowing that many students fall behind students in more competitive schools.
Teachers can do something about changing schools today. We can move the talk about changing schools to walking the change into schools.
Kudos to the many teachers who individually, at personal expense buy and use Tablet and Ultra Mobile PCs as well as other advanced technologies in classrooms. You set a noble pace for educators. And kudos to many school administrators who initiate and aggressively support increasing classroom and individual learning efficiencies.
You both shift the focus from changing schools to assisting students increase their learning rates now. Your students benefit from your commitment. Each of us can make similar decisions also.
At the current rate of changing instruction in most schools to meet economic forecasts, our students see that “their end is in sight,” to paraphrase Welch’s conclusion.
That end is not good for many soon to be alumni.
Individually purchased and maintained electronic devices by teachers appear as much a part of educators’ costs of accepting the privilege of teaching in school at any level today as does getting ourselves to school in appropriate attire.
By individually initiating use of more electronic devices in schools, educators demonstrate to students that we too change our behavior to survive with changing employment demands in a dynamic world economy.
Robert Brumfield reports a recent interview with David Thornburg. http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?Articleid=6225 Thornburg suggests “The main thing that’s holding technology back is (in schools) … a fear–a well-placed fear, I might add–that if technology becomes ubiquitous, it will totally transform the practice of education. There are a lot of people who don’t want the practice of education transformed, because they’re very comfortable with it.” Do you agree with Thornburg’s reasoning for lack of changes in schools?