Preparing Students for a Future We Can't Predict

It's the first day of school in our district, and I was on the lookout for something to share that would really give me some food for thought as we get the year started.

According to a provocative NY Times editorial by Virginia Heffernan, "Education Needs a Digital-Age Upgrade,"

"According to Cathy N. Davidson, co-director of the annual MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competitions, fully 65 percent of today’s grade-school kids may end up doing work that hasn’t been invented yet."

Cathy Davidson, cited above, has authored a book, Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn, which I have yet to read, but which is generating a lot of buzz.

KQED's MindShift column recently interviewed Davidson in an article "How Do We Prepare Our Children for What's Next?", and she suggests that we are now about 15 years into the fourth major Information Age, as described by historian Robert Darnton. The first three were driven by (1) the invention of writing, (2) moveable type, and (3) the industrial revolution, which made books available to the masses. 

"we are right on time to give up techno-phobia and to tackle the problems and opportunities of the digital world with good sense, pragmatics, realism, and purpose. Once we absorb the realization that we’ve already changed, and that we’re actually doing pretty well despite major realignments in our lives, then we can think about how we want to take this amazing new tool and use it in a way that better serves our lives."

The New York Times Room for Debate section featured the question Are research papers a waste of time? this week, and invited five debaters to weigh in. They all pointed out the difference between locating information and turning it into personal and sharable knowledge. But Penn State librarian Courtney Young put it most succinctly:

"Components of the research process are important for all students. The end product doesn’t need to be a research paper, but the concepts of inquiry and critical thinking are still needed as the foundation of an essay or group presentation."

I often think about how much of what I do on a daily basis was unimaginable (at least to me!) when I was in college. On the other hand, most of us in the work world using an innovating with these remarkable digital tools didn't have the advantage of using them during our K-12 educational career.  We need to use the tools of the current day and take the best aspects of perennial values of education and citizenship.