Rethinking the Education Paradigm
With the onset of global access to digital information, the emphasis on rote memorization and frontal lectures in the classroom are a thing of the past — or at least they should be. We need to be mindful of the changing landscape of the global economy and create a new educational model that reflects this new reality.
If we want our children to succeed post-graduation, schools will need to adapt to the demands of the 21st century by focusing on new skills and competencies. Our children have to work — and think — in different ways: they need to be agile, flexible and collaborative. They need to be able to utilize multidisciplinary knowledge to reach new conclusions.
In his book The Medici Effect, Frans Johansson refers to this intersection of ideas:
“The key difference between a field and an intersection of fields lies in how concepts within them are combined. If you operate within a field, you primarily are able to combine concepts within that particular field….When you step into the Intersection, you can combine concepts between multiple fields, generating ideas that leap in new directions.”
The concept of intersectional ideas is not only key for innovation in industry — it is key to building a new educational model in order for our children to succeed in a world that increasingly favors collaborative, hybrid approaches to problem solving.
Where We Came From and Where We’re Going
The current school structure in the US is based on a mishmash of theories and standards adopted in the 19th and 20th centuries. Christian Von Wolff’s theories of mental discipline and repetition of skills (from 1734!) continue to be adapted and practiced alongside later theories, including the Brooks’ theory of learning through active construction (1993). High schools continue to serve as feeders into higher education and universities continue the tradition adopted by Thomas Jefferson in 1779 of preparing students to be white collar workers.
Today, 21st century kids will need to be able to adapt to rapidly changing demands and technologies; in order to succeed in this new, global reality, they will have to possess a different skill set than their predecessors. There is a new focus on the importance of emotional intelligence (EQ) and a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to problem solving.
Schools have been slow to respond to this shift. According to code.org, the growth of computer science jobs is double the national average for job growth. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that by 2020, there will be 1.4 million jobs in the computer science field; currently, estimates indicate that only a third of these jobs will be able to be filled by qualified university graduates.
New trends such as the ability to access a full education online is changing the landscape of the current economy. The demands of the modern workplace call for a complete overhaul of an antiquated system.
Our Current System Doesn’t Offer Real Value
“G.P.A.’s are worthless as a criteria for hiring, and test scores are worthless.… We found that they don’t predict anything.” — Lazlo Bock, SVP of People Operations for Google
At a time where students are still fighting to achieve the illustrious 4.0 GPA, that quote is not only disheartening, but a challenge to the existing education system. Why should we continue to push our students to study for archaic tests that prove to be “worthless” in the context of the larger world? What is the point of a perfect SAT score or a fancy diploma on the wall if it gets you nowhere?
In a powerful TedTalk entitled “Do Schools Kill Creativity?”, Sir Ken Robinson recalls the story of a girl whose concerned mother takes her to a doctor because she is struggling in school. Throughout the appointment, the girl sits on her hands to keep herself from fidgeting. The doctor leaves the room with her mother, and turns on music before they go. As soon as they leave, she starts to dance; the doctor tells her mother that there is nothing wrong with her — she is simply a natural dancer. How do we create a system where we reach all learners and access multiple intelligences? How do we encourage students to use their innate talents and passions to add real value to the world? Imagine if the girl had visited a different doctor who had called her talent ADHD instead and prescribed Ritalin to “fix” her. (The girl in the anecdote is Gillian Lynne — the choreographer responsible for some of the most successful musical productions in history, including Cats and The Phantom of the Opera.)
The best way to add real value in today’s world is to create an ecosystem designed to unlock a student’s true potential. Literacy used to be the cornerstone of education and the key driver. Today it is applied learning. Examples are popping up across the country of new schools that reflect this new world: schools that use new models of education that are experiential, collaborative, project-based. Schools like the Altschool chain, High Tech High in LA, and the Cedarsong Nature School in WA, were established as a response to the disparity in our educational system. And, according to the US Department of Education, the number of students who opt-out completely and are home-schooled continues to rise; currently, approximately 1,770,000 students are home-schooled, accounting for 3.4% of the school-age population.
The New Teacher: Context is King
Teachers used to be the transmitters of information. They were the unquestionable knowers and distributors of content. In the age of information and Google, that has all changed. Today’s student has unlimited access to information. Does this make a teacher’s role obsolete? Quite the opposite, actually: the teacher’s role remains tantamount to students’ success. Only now, teachers must serve as facilitators, teaching students the skills of how to contextualize and apply the information that they have at their fingertips.
Is the goal of education still to prepare students to be successful, contributing members of society upon graduation? If so (and I believe that it is), then we need to accept the fact that the educator’s role is no longer as a provider of information. In a true 21st century educational system, the true problem-solvers will not just have answers, but will build something that will create more questions. This paradoxical framework requires a specific skill set far above and beyond the standard reading, writing, and arithmetic.
In the career section on their website, Google staff director Todd Carlisle says the best way to build a team is by seeking candidates who have “raw intellect, learning agility, diversity, leadership and innovation”. Buzzwords like grit, persistence, resilience and EQ (emotional intelligence) have become the new gold standards for being successful children and adults.
Google Education even commissioned a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit “to understand the extent to which the skills taught in education systems around the world are changing, and whether they meet the needs of employers and society more widely”. Among other things, they found that problem-solving, teamwork and communication are the skills most highly valued by businesses across the globe.
Our task is to build an educational system that values and encourages these traits.
So What?
I have only scratched the surface of issues in our current education system. There are many more issues that need to be addressed in imagining a “perfect” school system. I don’t think that there is one right answer — and if there was, I don’t think that there is one authoritative figure who could come up with it alone. I do believe that we can push the needle forward. With collaboration from passionate leaders in multiple fields who all have a stake in the future of education, like folks in the fields of technology and education — and parents and students — I believe that we can create a shared vision of a better model.
Boston, for example, is an innovation hub in the academic community, with local professors like Tony Wagner at the Harvard School of Education who is loudly advocating for educational reform. At the same time, with the infusion of students from MIT, tech incubators, venture capital firms and a burgeoning startup community, it is also a technology hub that cultivates applied learning. With these local institutions and tech giants like Google and LEGO Education only blocks away from Wagner in Cambridge, there is an opportunity for a new intersection.
The concept of an intersectional approach to problem solving should not only apply to startups and the corporate sector; it should be embedded in the educational landscape from an early age — and in the approach to exploring new educational models. We are currently experiencing a huge shift, not just as a generation, but as a species. The rate at which one is able to build what they imagine, combined with the availability of resources to make it happen, has increased exponentially. The only way we can keep up with and maintain a better, more sustainable ecosystem is by creating a new paradigm for education.
