SchoolFinder Blog

Quality Education: The Changing Face of Education

A blogger by the name of Bud the Teacher turned me on to a book A Schoolmaster of the Great City. Bud suggested the book would show some of the very same problems we see today in the classroom. I think we also see some of the same philosophical questions that schools face today.

Page 97 The school world that had been sufficient within itself opened up its doors;

Page 101 Even if we could take upon our shoulders all the responsibilities of the home and relieve you entirely it would not be good for you and for the children.

Page 159 That class has to learn the stuff that’ll pass exams. (A parent speaking to the principal)

Page 203 Her ability to recite the allotted lessons, though no test of spiritual growth, of human sympathy, are sufficient for school progress.

Page 200 The school must constantly ask, “What is the effect of my programme on the soul growth of the children? Why is it that my programme does not reach all children? What can I do to keep in touch with ideas that are vigorous and young? What can I do to keep sane, human, far-seeing? How can I respect the child’s prolonged infancy and keep him from facing the struggle of the labour market until he is mentally and physically fit? How can I translate efficiency, goodness, will training, citizenship, parental duty into child happiness?”

So it would seem that for at least the last 90 years or so schools have been attempting to overcome similar problems in both keeping students motivated and figuring out it’s true role in society.

Recently I posted about disruptive technology. The point is that as much as things stay the same in education there is also room for change. We in the U.S. may not, and probably will not be in the forefront of this change. That doesn’t mean we will be left behind. It means we are going to go through some disturbing changes.

Take a look for a second at some of the reflections about NECC 08 (National Educational Computing Conference). Dean Shareski, Chris Lehmann,  Sheryl, Jeff Utecht, Paul Wood, and of course Bud.  There are what seems like a million more reflections, but I think these are a good cross section, at least of the ones I read. I get the sense that the conference while good, seems to have lost the promise that was built last year.

These are the teachers who are not only on the leading edge of technology (notice I didn’t say technology in the classroom), but they are also the educators on the leading edge of education itself. These are the people who are thinking about how education is changing. These are the educators who are not satisfied with the way things are. These are the educators who start with a vision of education ten steps past where we are today and start building the road there.

So why are so many quality educators frustrated? Granted most quality educators live a frustrated life trying to improve a centuries old institution. As Chris Lehman said in one post “The hardest challenge facing our community is that we’ve done a very good job at going after the low-hanging fruit.” There is a concept called Flat Earth. Flat Earth is basically the idea that through the use of technology everyone in the world can compete on equal footing. Granted a trucking company with trucks in Europe will have a bit of difficulty transporting good around the U.S. , but there is very little difference between a company with headquarters in Europe and trucks in the U.S. and a company wholly in the U.S.

Now expand that concept beyond business to education. Will my middle school teacher be replaced with a WebEx session from India or China? Probably not. Will my middle school student compete with a student from India or China or Africa or Finland? Yes. Can my middle school student compete? Yes.

I think we have gone as far as we can with the education as an assembly line approach. It is time to think of education as more dynamic.

According to this editorial average education levels in the U.S. have risen from 8 years of schooling in the 1879’s to 14 years in the 1970’s. Since then education levels have slowed to a crawl. During the last 40 years most of the rest of the world has learned to follow our education lead. In many cases other countries have surpassed us. It is getting to the point where many of the top minds in specific research fields are as likely to join a research team in another country as they would join a team in the U.S. The idea that the earth is flat doesn’t just apply to business.

I see the Flat Earth not as an impending doom from an economic take over, but as the beginning of an education revolution. I see students who are hungry to learn getting that opportunity. I see education changing from knowing to using. I see students in Iowa working with and sharing with students from Zimbabwe. I see a bright future for my children.