Wednesday, June 13, 2007

State of Tomorrow

As I mentioned in the last post, if we are really serious about preparing our kids for a global society, we must look at learning differently. Watch the 6-minute video below to see some reasons why:



Twenty two years ago was the first time I'd ever touched a computer. I took a computer programming class on an Apple computer in 8th grade. One year later the class was outdated. The rest of my high school career we only used computers for typing.

Fifteen years ago, while I was still in college, I heard about email for the first time. My friend, Cecilia, was excited that she would be able to "email" home to Guatemala for free. I thought she was crazy. I "knew" there was no way they would let people talk to someone in another country for free! Yet, here we are.

I don't think I need to go through a list of the things that have happened since then.

Every day our world is changing.

As the video notes:

...the top 10 jobs that will be in demand in 2010 didn't exist in 2004 ~Former Secretary of Education, Richard Riley

...We are currently preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist...using technologies that haven't yet been invented...in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet.

...The amount of new technical information is doubling every two years. For students starting a 4-year technical or college degree, this means that half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study.


I want to be sure that our urban children are not being left behind.

"To address a rapidly changing world, the very best thing we can teach our children, is how to teach themselves." ~David Warlick (Two cents worth blog).

I couldn't agree more.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The Power of a lifelong learner. It's so important. If you [our students] cannot place yourself in all situations to learn...then you [specifically Janet] would not be blogging today. Learning is a constant process...and as educators, as people, we need to be in the constant state of learning...growing and developing through all of life.

I loved how you put the technology age on your own life timeline. Interesting read.