More Jobs Means SysSTEMic Change and No More Brownies

As she watched the debate on Saturday evening, thinking to herself, "what an exciting way to spend a Saturday evening!", the woman looked down at one of the essay drafts shared with her by a student on Google Docs.  A candidate began speaking about economic recovery and job growth, and her student happened to be addressing a portion of that very issue in her "Future City" essay. 


The teacher's mind began to wander and she thought about her students, who were currently neck deep in a big bowl of the Future City Competition.  They had been working on Sim City for the last month and a half and they were preparing research and essays.  One of her brightest students was demolishing (not literally) his Sim City.  He was tearing it up and taking names.  She asked him to reflect on his city's development process and determine what he thought was one of the most important decisions he made which allowed his city to flourish.  He began his response with one word, "education."  He went on to describe the way in which his well funded educational system allowed more high density residential growth, and eventually (and more quickly than most students in the class) promoted sustained high tech industry to move in.  Even in this simulation, this game, education created high paying jobs.  Her mind wandered back to the debate and the essay shining from her laptop.

During the debate, when asked about how the candidates would create jobs, no one mentioned encouraging or funding America's innovators or "high tech' industry.  In fact, several candidates wanted to increase manufacturing which, while it would create jobs in the short term, is not an effective method in our flat world to sustain growth and economic health.  The future city that her student was developing had very little manufacturing.  In the essay, her student seemed to reason that in the near future (5-10 years), even more of the majority of basic manufacturing would be outsourced to countries with less regulation and fewer human rights laws.  Her city was supposed to be futuristic and innovative, so she assumed that she would import some commodities rather that creating more "dirty" industry and manufacturing.

During the debate, when asked about how the candidates would create jobs, no one mentioned improving our educational system, funding STEM, or making America's youth competitive with the rest of the world.  After seeing some successes with the Sim City program, most of her students agreed that a well developed educational system was a good idea for their cities.  Outside of the program, the teacher and her students had several discussions about our current economic models and our educational system.  They felt a bit discouraged by the lack of focus on education.  In their minds, they reasoned that they would be "taking over the world" one day and if America's outlook on education didn't change, they would find themselves without a country titled "superpower".  They believed that many countries were passing them by where it mattered: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.  Many of these countries were generously funding education when it seemed that America was de-funding it.

The overstretched teacher turned off the T.V and grabbed a large brownie.  She looked at the brownie, felt guilt crawling in her stomach, and shoved the whole thing in.  She decided that devouring the brownie shouldn't make her feel guilty.  Rather, she thought of it as a metaphor for her totally exciting evening on the couch grading essays, watching a primary debate, and thinking about education.  The brownie was the status quo.  It was our children's education; it was their system.  It seemed like a really good thing at first, sweet, chocolatey, delicious, with a few imperfections and maybe some drawbacks.  But that brownie sat in her stomach like a log and when it finally moved on from there, it lodged itself as cellulite on her thighs.  She thought that we owed it to our children to prevent them from becoming cellulite.  They shouldn't have to be that annoying gelatin-like skin in the world.  She also knew that if she wanted to go to the beach, her diet needed to change.

The Failing is in the Failure to Fail

As she scrolled through her RSS feeds, she came across a post that was all too familiar in the recent weeks.  Against her best judgment (as it was 7:10 am and students were ready to stampede), she clicked "How The U.S. Education System Is Failing Students".  The young teacher reluctantly read the article and had anticipated seeing the same old diatribes targeting educators or parents or leaders or bowls of soup.  It made no difference to her at this point.  The conversations were the same despite "fresh" new research and analysis that made the issues even more muddled.

But this article was a bit different.  It seemed to have a spark that other resources were lacking.  There was courage in the argument that in order for the system to reinvigorate itself, it would essentially have to fall.  Did schools have that courage?  The courage to fail and learn from that failure?  The courage to inspire innovation in students by being models for change themselves?  The small optimist whispering from the tiny hairs on the back of her neck said, "Alright!  This is what we need to make happen!"  But the pessimist sweating through the pores on her body bellowed, "Yeah, that will happen.  And this will be funded how?"  

The smiles began to trickle in from the hallway, so she closed the article from their peering eyes.  Seeing a title like, "How The U.S. Education System Is Failing Students" was not something she thought her students should see that early in the morning.  They were already cynical enough as 8th graders.       

This Is Just To Say. . . Are They Really Who We Think They Are?

It was a great day to be back at school and to make those kids feel good and have fun.  The teacher stood in front of his students and chatted for a few minutes after the bell had rung.  They spoke about fun things that happened on the weekend, about the latest movies in the theaters, about how some people get constipated from eating too much turkey.  He saw the light in their eyes and they heard the care and sincerity in his voice.  And as all of his most important teaching was happening, he thought about the next lesson he was about to deliver.

His students were going to work on multi-media projects.  They were tech-savvy and ready for anything!  This was the "YouTuberation" and he knew that creating a one minute video on the work of William Carlos Williams would be a piece of plum cake.  His rubric was well conceived and succinct, he had some great poems to share, and the project explanation was superb.  The man even brought in a stinking red wheel barrow for inspiration.  The class was kickin' and the kids were excited.  And then, they began creating, or at least, they began thinking about how to create.

The problem that this well intentioned and progressive teacher ran into was that he overestimated his student's ability and tech awareness.  Obviously he knew that he would need to prepare them for some of the rigors of creating videos, but he didn't anticipate having to walk them through basic computer functions and capabilities.  The man had read all about how important it was to transform the teaching paradigm within the classroom.  He knew that his students needed to be engaged and a part of the larger conversations taking place digitally around the world.  And even though he was ready to make it a reality for them, were they ready for the rigors and challenges this new digital curriculum would present?

His first thought was about the shift that needed to occur at a national level.  As students progress from grade to grade, they are expected to understand new universal pieces of information and new ways of thinking.  This had to become the case with technology as well.  As the nation creates a Common Core set of standards, aptitude for engaging with and utilizing technology must be addressed and made a priority.  Students can read, write, and solve equations all day, but if those skill sets cannot be translated digitally, then we are sending unprepared people into an increasingly digital world. 

His next thought quickly spiraled into the ether of the cosmos and the "what does it all mean?" conundrum that has riddled teachers and students forever. William Carlos Williams seeped into his brain and his students transformed into letters making up a single stanza beautifully rich poem.  But he digressed and decided that in order for his students to feel successful, he needed to create some short tutorials on basic movie editing and teach them how to save files on a flash drive.  For the moment, WCW would have to wait.

So It Begins

He told himself he had no idea what he was doing, no idea what he was getting himself into, no ideas period.  He was ridiculous for coming up with a kitschy, dorky blog title, let alone for writing in the third person (lamo), let alone for writing a blog.  Could he develop thought provoking discussions revolving around education and the strange and foreign system it has become?  Could he model short vignettes to engage and entertain readers while actually "saying" something of substance?  Could he start another sentence with"could he" and present a pointless rhetorical question?  The answers to these and other questions were unclear.  He knew that he had things to say, but was this the right vehicle and delivery that he wanted?  The educator was bemuddled and would remain bemuddled about many things.  Even as to the word "bemuddled" he was bemuddled.  He knew that this would be a long process.