Re-inventing Education

Just think, what if we were truly intent on preparing kids to thrive in and contribute to the 21st century. What would education look like? What skills would our young people need in the 21st century to be ethical, helpful, compassionate and collaborative citizens and creative problem-solvers of the world? What will teach our young people to be their best FOR the world? (not necessarily the best IN the world) What would be the role of the teachers? And most importantly, what would the curriculum look like?

Our present educational model is out-dated. It's the "GM model" built for an industrial society. Schools are factories with interchangeable parts (teachers) for creating uniform products (students). As a rule, they do not allow for customization and acceleration. Furthermore, the curriculum is based on the classical 15th century "Trivium" of Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric.

We have progressed to the information age. Our students no longer need to produce answers as most information is readily available online. They need to know the best ways to access the best information for problem-solving. As a result, the 21st century equivalents to the Trivium are Algorithmic thinking, computer science, programming (formerly logic); Information literacy (formerly grammar); and Qualifying sources/presenting arguments (formerly rhetoric).

Wow! Just imagine how exciting education could be if it were student-centric, interactive, multi-media focused and collaborative! By being "prosumers" kids would create content while learning and sharing. It would be an upward spiral of innovation and improvement.

Our next step is to figure out how to get from the Industrial age to the Information age. How do we move from the "GM model" to a self-paced, customizable model? Stay tuned!


food for thought:
Clayton Chistensen - Disrupting Class: how disruptive innovation will change the world learns
Tapscott & Williams - Wikinomics: how mass collaboration changes everything
Kim & Mauborgne - Blue Ocean Strategy (to develop new markets by repositioning i.e., Cirque du Soleil, Curves, Southwest)
Charter School movement - online high schools
Home School movement - acceleration, customization
Apollo Group's University of Phoenix & insight online schools (10k notes/annual report)

Brainstorm partners:
Mike Hsieh
Michael Massey
Diann Callaghan
Kevin Callaghan
and many more to come!