The Story of a
Monkey and the Work Force We Need
A number of years ago, when living in Ukraine, I decided to send my
older daughter to a local kindergarten for a few weeks of summer school. I
wanted her to become immersed in the local language and culture and to discover
the hard yet rewarding work of learning to understand, adapt and connect.
That was lesson for me. Because this story comes to mind whenever I
think about how we prepare — and don't prepare — our kids for tomorrow. It's a
good illustration of how to stimulate and deaden learning. And learning is what
it's all about, because we have a lot of work to do to prepare our future work
force.
Seth Godin speaks often about how the shifts in our world mandate a different
approach to how we teach, learn and relate. It's not enough to instruct a child
or young adult in how to follow directions. Machines can do that - and they can
increasingly replace us in that endeavor. Says Godin, "The mission [of
school] used to be to create homogenized, obedient, satisfied workers and
pliant, eager consumers. No longer." He goes on to write that we need to
teach children to lead and solve interesting problems.
When we teach a child to make good
decisions, we benefit from a lifetime of good decisions. When we teach a child
to love to learn, the amount of learning will become limitless. When we teach a
child to deal with a changing world, she will never become obsolete. When we
are brave enough to teach a child to question authority, even ours, we insulate
ourselves from those who would use their authority to work against each of us.
And when we give students the desire to make things, even choices, we create a
world filled with makers."
Tomorrow's workers must be
makers. So we need to color outside the lines
in our current approach to education. That means more immersion in new
experiences and problem solving and fewer monkey drawings. More active
engagement and less rote repetition. The increasing connectiveness and
competitiveness of our world will demand it.
(As a personal aside, I feel so
strongly about this as a mother and employer that I recently changed jobs to
commit myself to contributing to the solution. Last week, I joined ePals as
incoming CEO to make the work of better serving students my full time
endeavor.)
If you're a parent, you already have
this job. This summer, when your child comes to you and declares he or she is
bored, think about it. If you're like me, you are exasperated when this
happens. (We're not alone.) But these moments are actually opportunities to begin the work of
creating makers. Just as our schools must tackle that challenge, we can too if
we:
·
Create opportunities for imaginative
play. A ball of string or an empty box or a backyard is an empty palette. Let
your child define and build their own world around something they can define in
their own way.
·
Encourage the young entrepreneur.
Don't solve the boredom problem for your child - let them figure it out -- or
give them an interesting problem to solve.
·
Create opportunities for global
connection. At ePals, we help teachers and parents create connections with
students around the world. A fun place to start is to check out this climber who scaled Mount Everest - and answered questions from kids all over the planet.
It's never too early to begin to see boredom as a lost opportunity to
learn - and to do something about it.
What were your best or worst moments
of learning? How do you feel we can color outside the lines in thinking about
tomorrow's work force? And what in your view should our schools be doing to
prepare kids for our changing world? I'd like to learn from you. As one artist said, "In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.”
That is one way we all - workers of today or work force of tomorrow - can begin
to help ourselves and each other.
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