|
Randy Cassingham's BlogHistorical Details and Author's Notes from This is True® - the First For-Profit E-mail Publication (and Still Going Strong). |
Shift Happens
There's a group of friends I hang out with online, all of us online entrepreneurs. One sent a URL around urging us all to "take 8 minutes to watch the video," adding "if you care about such things, please consider blogging about it and/or passing it on." What things? Our kids. Or, more accurately, the education of our kids. The world is a very, very different place than it was when we were kids.
Subscribe for Free
I was extremely lucky to grow up in the Silicon Valley, where my father had a second career doing consulting for the high tech companies there. (This was back in the hardware days of the valley, when they were doing fab work with silicon, not so much writing software to run on it.)
I was introduced to computers in the seventh grade, which is pretty good considering I started the seventh grade in 1971. And I hereby publicly thank Ms Adrienne Drummond-Hay, who pushed La Entrada Junior High (now Middle) School in Menlo Park, Calif., into the Computer Age way ahead of its time. Thanks to her, I'm in perhaps the first generation who grew up with computers as ubiquitous tools, not marvels. I was one of the first students I knew of in college who had his own computer, too. I'm not saying this to brag -- it's just a tool, nothing special -- but it gave me a huge advantage over other students.
Hot Lead: A lead type "slug" from a Linotype machine. This is how typesetting was done before computers came along. This one (which says "This is True®") was created by a reader, who still runs a Linotype machine in his garage. Approximately actual size. |
A lot has changed since 1971, and when I was in college. And I'm sure some schools have kept up. But I'll bet most are still way behind the curve. Probably including the one your kids (or grandkids) go to.
It was a year and a half ago that I recommended you read The World is Flat, which discusses how the Internet is leveling the playing field around the world. It's why tech support is booming in Bangalore, India, for instance. But that's just an outward manifestation of the flattening playing field. What country has the largest middle class? Not the U.S., but India; their middle class will soon be larger than the entire population of the U.S. What is soon to be the largest English-speaking country? No, not India, though 100 percent of its college grads speak English. Rather, it's China.
Another friend in the group piped in that he's "still fighting the good fight to promote English skills." He retired from a major player in high tech, one that's making many billions by understanding just how important all of this is. When he was there, he did a lot of hiring, and he could easily tell if a prospective employee had what it took to compete. He said, regarding this, "If your email and your Internet posts and your other writings sound like a spoiled teenager who didn't finish high school, don't be surprised if that's exactly how you're treated." He now kicks himself that he didn't pay more attention in school English classes: he now makes his living ...as a writer.
The point: English is certainly emerging as the high tech language in an increasingly high tech world. India and China realized this long ago. Have your kid's teachers realized it? Have you? Can your children communicate intelligently in writing? Or can they only write in txt msg shthnd? (Text message shorthand!) The ability to get points across well and succinctly has enabled me to make a good living, but I was also lucky enough to go to the right schools, staffed by the right teachers, that I was pointed in a useful direction, which is amazing considering when it was. They left the "how" up to me, and I think I found a worthy path. Now that we're well into the 21st century, are your kids getting that sort of guidance?
The video I referred to (below) keeps asking, "Did you know?" That gets really old, but did you? More importantly, do the people we're paying professional-level wages to educate our children know it? Does your kid's principal know it? What is he or she doing to get your child ready? Do you know? Why not?
Here's the Video
I look forward to your comments on this. Did you know this stuff? Now that you do, what are you going to do about it?
Here's the link from the video, so you don't have to type it in: http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com.
P.S.: I wrote this 875-word essay in under an hour, including the time it took me to look up and encode all the links here, and post it to my blog. Will your kids be able to do that when they finish school? I hope so, but fear not. Thanks again, Ms Drummond-Hay.
RSS
Most Recent Comments
My children are being taught to memorize what is necessary to pass the "No child left behind" test. We get a graph showing how our district ranked compared to the state.
When they found out that the teachers couldn't even pass the test, it was made easier.
What computer skills are really needed beyond turning it on and clicking a little picture?
We need to stop dumbing down our children before they become too dumb to stop.
Posted by: Mike, North Carolina | March 2, 2008 9:00 PM
The "No child left behind" program has virtually insured that American children WILL be left behind as education opportunities - in English - escalate exponentially and are taken advantage of by students around the world.
We're not growing a population here at home of high-techies, we're growing a population of burger flippers and toilet cleaners. They're well-versed in text messaging and downloading ringtones (and even speed dialing drug dealers), but can they speak and read English? How are their math skills compared to a child in India or China? How many languages do they speak natively? How much do they know about their own history, let alone the history of other countries? In a one-minute quiz, How many rock stars can they name compared to presidents of the United States?
How often will we "re-evaluate" test scores so that no one fails before we succeed in building an entire generation that WILL fail?
Who is causing the educational bottleneck? Look to school board members and education leaders, many in their 60s and 70s, (particularly older men who have chauvinistic expectations for girls' education - remember: "You can be a teacher or a nurse, honey, until you find a husband and have babies" and their offspring that bought into that old saw). Rigid in their antiquated beliefs, most of these people are unwilling or unable to look to future solutions when they cannot understand the problem or even understand there is one. Quite simply, they are frightened of change. As one I know says, "I'm out of my millennium." OK, then get all the way out. Stick to the past and don't place yourself in a position where you make decisions affecting our future.
This gets down to our "elective process" and "democracy in action" issues and arming our kids with automatic weapons and cammie suits instead of learning tools for future success...issues that don't belong here...in this discussion perhaps... but certainly have had and will continue to have a growing negative impact on education. The system is rotten. From the top down - that governing "old boy network" from Washington down to your local school board members - it just isn't working. And trying to legislate that all kids are equal is just plain silly. They don't look alike and they don't all think alike. Some are smarter than others. We'd better recognize that before it's too late.
What can we do? Get realistic. Recognize differences and embrace them instead of trying to lump all kids into one homogeneous soup. Retire the old dogs that determine education direction. Replace them with forward-thinking educational leaders (of any age - could be 20, could be 100 - it's how they think, not how many birthdays they've had). These people should be appointed or hired, not elected by an increasingly dumber population -- products of the current system, and future system we are trying to avoid. Take a look at government styles at home and abroad and how they impact education. Evaluate educational direction in India and China (and other places) where children ARE learning and are already overtaking our own kids, speaking their language better than they do. Then implement those parts of their systems that are working. We might not be able to change our own governing "democratic?" system, but we can learn from others and adopt some of their policies where education is concerned. We ARE going to be left further and further behind if we don't start getting ahead. Now. Right this damn minute. Not after months and years of lengthy, inconclusive committee meetings and caucuses and endless "voting" sessions where we put the same people (or those of like mind) and ideas right back into the system.
We should be ashamed of ourselves. It's time we wake up and take charge of educating our future population before our kids become the toilet cleaners for the rest of an enlightened, educated world. Let's arm our kids with tools that will help them succeed in an increasingly technical world...and I don't mean bigger rifles, fancier cell phones or questionable skills of how to win an elective office through treachery and trickery. Rather, let's teach today's kids and future generations how to learn, then give them the environment and tools to do it.
This discussion ought to generate some arguments - particularly from those "board members" I earlier described. I've met them, worked with them, argued with them. Trying to change their minds requires a large hammer to the head, and unfortunately, even that won't help.
Posted by: Kathryn, Montrose, Colorado | March 28, 2008 8:29 AM
Do you realy think you can change things now? We are indeed in a sorry mess. I put the blame where it belongs. Squarely at the door of my generation. I am 79 years old and it was us who brought up the parents who are making such a pathetic job of parenting THEIR children. Teachers have an uphill job and no wonder they take the easy way out and follow orders from people whose only aim is to get elected again.
China and India are in the position we were in a couple of generations ago. Will they follow the same path? It doesnt look too hopeful for the human race.
Posted by: john Dungloe, Co. Donegal | April 8, 2008 3:58 AM