We’re in a very interesting place in education right now. As we look at the global transformations that have occurred in the last 10 years due to technology, our minds spin. If you were to go on line this very second and type in technology and change, you’d be inundated with information on all the changes that have occurred in the past, are occurring now and the potential for change in the very near future. Change is not merely inevitable, it is a constant.
With all these technological changes, education is being forced to change rapidly as well but, in reality, I’m not so certain that it is. As much as educational pundits will relay to you all the latest and greatest revolutions in eduction, if you walk into an average high school you’ll still see many of the following signs of a traditional classroom:
1. Desks in straight lines
2. Teacher desks at the front, with a presentation tool the center of the room – board or screen.
3. Marks based on individual achievement
4. Tests which primarily measure content knowledge
5. Standardized testing
6. Students working in isolation
Well not all classrooms are like this, many are. Why is that? Why are we looking for answers to these new issues and new problems with traditional thinking? Part of the reasoning may well be the fear of risk. We do what we have always done because risking change is hard . . . very hard. What if we fail? What if the kids in our care don’t learn? What if my high achievers do not successfully pass a standardized test? Even though we know through study after study that the work place has changed and the skill sets that graduates entering the work force need is vastly different from the skill sets that they needed 25 years ago, we still will not risk the change.
Dan Gardner, in his book Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear examines human’s inability to identify what real risk looks like. In reality , humanity has never had it so good. We live longer than our ancestors, and putting that in perspective, we should be much more relaxed. We aren’t though. We are anxious and stressed, scared of the awful things lurking in our midst; nuclear war, terrorism, cancer, child abduction. The issue lies in the fact that we think in two different domains, the brain and the gut. While the gut tells us that flying in a plane is illogical and unnatural, our brain tells us it is VERY safe mode of travel. All one need do is look at the statistics for safety to know that we are far safer flying to a destination than driving to the airport to get there. An example that really stood out for me in Dan Gardner’s book was the example of genetically modified meats in Europe . . . they won’t have them. Makes good sense as it just sounds wrong. That being said, there are no studies that show that genetically modified meats have an adverse effect of the body. But Europeans on the whole see this as a risk. On the other side of the coin, many European countries that have a ban on genetically altered meat, have high smoking rates. Scientifically speaking, we know for a fact that smoking has huge implications on our health. Why is it that the same peoples who will not allow something which is unproven to have impact on our health, impact their society but, in the same breath, do something to themselves which is proven to have huge risks? Gut over brain!
I see the lack of transformational change in education being more about the gut, what we’ve done in the past has always worked, than about the brain, the data that points to our changing needs in this knowledge rich environment. Let’s remind ourselves as educators that our focus is ALWAYS about student success and that what made students successful in the last century is not likely the skill set that they will need in their lifetimes.
In the words of one of the great thinkers of our time, Drew Barrymore, “There’s something liberating about not pretending. Dare to embarrass yourself. Risk.” Kids are worth it.
Keep learning,
Dave
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