Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Education, Technology & Globalization

Shame on me for not commenting on Obama's address to Congress in which he included education as one of his top priorities (yay!) Here's the direct transcript from his 2/24/09 speech...well...just the part about education:


The third challenge we must address is the urgent need to expand the promise of education in America.

In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity - it is a pre-requisite.

Right now, three-quarters of the fastest-growing occupations require more than a high school diploma. And yet, just over half of our citizens have that level of education. We have one of the highest high school dropout rates of any industrialised nation. And half of the students who begin college never finish.

This is a prescription for economic decline, because we know the countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow. That is why it will be the goal of this administration to ensure that every child has access to a complete and competitive education - from the day they are born to the day they begin a career.

Already, we have made an historic investment in education through the economic recovery plan. We have dramatically expanded early childhood education and will continue to improve its quality, because we know that the most formative learning comes in those first years of life. We have made college affordable for nearly seven million more students. And we have provided the resources necessary to prevent painful cuts and teacher layoffs that would set back our children's progress.

But we know that our schools don't just need more resources. They need more reform. That is why this budget creates new incentives for teacher performance; pathways for advancement, and rewards for success. We'll invest in innovative programmes that are already helping schools meet high standards and close achievement gaps. And we will expand our commitment to charter schools.

It is our responsibility as lawmakers and educators to make this system work. But it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in it. And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma. And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It's not just quitting on yourself, it's quitting on your country - and this country needs and values the talents of every American. That is why we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college and meet a new goal: by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

I know that the price of tuition is higher than ever, which is why if you are willing to volunteer in your neighbourhood or give back to your community or serve your country, we will make sure that you can afford a higher education. And to encourage a renewed spirit of national service for this and future generations, I ask this Congress to send me the bipartisan legislation that bears the name of senator Orrin Hatch as well as an American who has never stopped asking what he can do for his country - senator Edward Kennedy.

These education policies will open the doors of opportunity for our children. But it is up to us to ensure they walk through them. In the end, there is no program or policy that can substitute for a mother or father who will attend those parent/teacher conferences, or help with homework after dinner or turn off the TV, put away the video games and read to their child. I speak to you not just as a president, but as a father when I say that responsibility for our children's education must begin at home.


It is quite a goal but we must start somewhere - and thank you, Mr. President, for point out that it's not just resources, it's reform. Yes, money is great and I'm sure those dollars will be received with gratitude, but if you want change, you can't just throw money at it.

I also wanted to tie a few other things in with the importance of education as a priority. I was recently at a meeting where P-20 initiatives are being discussed (mostly in regard to federal funding). Anyhow, one of the priorities is a better way to track students along their educational paths to try to find out what works and what doesn't. Imagine all the data! (And that's an excited "!")

What about education in the context of an increasingly "global" world? In class today we discussed an article "Wake Up and Smell the Epistemology" and talked about it in relation to positions/stages of Perry's theory. I think the author's perspective is interesting - that due to what he sees as the influence of technology, students are coming into college at a higher (albeit apathetic) level of cognitive development. This quote from a student in the article summed this point up nicely:

It is imperative that someone studying this generation realize that we have the world at our fingertips — and the world has been at our fingertips for our entire lives. I think this access to information seriously undermines this generation's view of authority, especially traditional scholastic authority.


So let's see...so far I've talked about education as a national imperative (regarding both resources and reform) and cognitive levels of students in the "information age." I wanted to bring one more idea into this blog, which is globalization. The world has always been complex within and among disciplines, but when you broaden the scope to include the whole world, and not just the U.S., somewhere, we must account for the rapid pace of globalization include economic, political, financial, and yes, even educational.

I got this link from a friend and I highly recommend taking a look at it - it really puts the technological revolution on a global scale and ties education into it quite nicely: Did you know?

I think when we take a step back and look at the future of education in the realm of a global community, there are many things we need to address. We are ill prepared for the future. A couple of the most salient issues would have to be the current economic crisis as well as climate change. I think other issues include apathy and lack of direction. Do people (including students) really not care? Or do people not care because they feel at a loss of knowing what they can do?

Maybe students are apathetic about what they learn in the classroom - but are they entirely apathetic? Or does it have to do with relevance? How is this relevant to the student - and how is it relevant to the future of society in a technological age of global growth? Furthermore, how can academics become relevant if the teachers cannot relate the relevance of their teachings to our global society? How can educational institutions prepare students for careers in a new globalized and technologically advanced future when the teachers themselves aren't equipped to guide their students in this direction?

I don't have the answers, obviously, but I think there are too many people with closed minds out there that inhibit the possibilities....and much like the Clydesdale article suggests, I don't think the ones with the most closed minds are the students. (!) I love it when I hear teachers, administrators, and professionals I know say things like, "I'm learning so much from my students" or "I love what my students are teaching me!" Yes, thank you!

It's not about "I'm right" or "I know it all" or even "I know much that I would like to share" - it's a step further. The convergence of minds, the idea of synergy, that the most can be achieved when everyone is involved...that when everyone (let's say, in a classroom) works together not just for mutual benefit, but for even more...the sum of what the teacher knows and what the students have to offer is greater than what the students can learn from the teacher alone (or what the teacher can learn from their students alone).

Now, I don't know how we can find out how best to address the current and emergent issues in our society (and around the world), but I know one thing: we are all in this together, and there's no way we can survive without a combination of individual and social responsibility and reliance. Hrm. Does that make sense? That we need to hold ourselves accountable and each-other accocuntable. That we need to keep our minds open, not just for ourselves, but for what can be an even greater benefit.

Now the big question is - how can we achieve this?

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