| The State of Education Part I |
 |
 |
 |
| Friday, 20 February 2009 00:00 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The shocking reality is that such a question is as outdated, archaic and irrelevant as a rotary phone. The fact is that the top 10 jobs in 2010 did not even exist in 2004. That means that the careers your children will choose most likely don’t exist today either. Fascinating statistic. But there’s more. Last week at the Parent Council meeting, I showed a YouTube video, “Did You Know?” that conveys in 4 minutes and 55 seconds the eye-popping realities of the world our children will be living and working in..and the incredible challenges educators and parents face in preparing our children for success in this world. Before you read another word of this letter, please stop. Click this link to view the video clip. Then, come back and read on. Amazing.and scary to realize that we are preparing kids today for jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies that haven’t been invented, to solve problems that we don’t yet know are problems. This supports the educational philosophy we promote here at Davidson Day. It is backed by a great deal of research, collaboration and study reports all pointing to the same conclusion: the creative class holds the key to the future. Success will be in the hands of the innovative problem-solvers, abstract thinkers, and team-players; they will need to have strong reasoning skills, know how to organize and synthesize information to get things done, have a broad-based knowledge across many disciplines, and know how to go after and get the information they need; they will have strong leadership skills, be excellent communicators, and have high ethics and moral character. Analytical skills, logic, and technical capabilities are not enough. We have moved beyond the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. If you still aren’t convinced, think about this: studies over time have found that valedictorians are surprisingly unsuccessful since what is measured in school is not what is most useful in life. Colleges and universities are finally getting the message, with some highly selective colleges beginning to minimize or drop SAT / ACT test scores as a requirement of admission. The Education Testing Service (ETS) responsible for SAT and AP testing has admitted that their model is still based on Industrial Era expectations. A think tank is currently working on transforming ETS efforts to actually reflect 21st Century skills and true indicators of success in the real world. Schools are slowly starting to change. But the current state of the economy has only deepened the problem. Salary and hiring freezes, program and budget cutbacks, and increased class size are not providing an environment conducive to change. An entire generation of kids are at risk for not being prepared to make the grade in the global economy. But not your kids. This is where you get to take a deep sigh of relief knowing that your investment in your children’s education at Davidson Day School truly is preparing them for success in the 21st century. Our school is continuing to build programs, hire qualified faculty committed to change and 21st Century ideals, and individualize the delivery of our education to ensure that all children are challenged and prepared for the world that awaits them. Part II of this discussion thread will appear next week and focus on the specific ways Davidson Day is uniquely preparing its students, your children, for success in college and their lives beyond. Part II and all future discussions will appear exclusively on my blog site. You will be notified of all new postings in the Roundabout. Thank you for helping us build an exciting educational environment for your children here at Davidson Day School. Warm Regards,
Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.26
3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved." |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
success. They continue to test for memorization; are teaching to tests; and are over-emphasizing IQ and test scores as indicators of success. All of which help prepare our kids for jobs that can and will, unfortunately, be performed by cheaper labor overseas.