World Class Learners

I'm two chapters in to Yong Zhao's World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students.

And it's right down my alley.

Not only am I loving its message: that we should dump all our high stakes testing insanity to make sure we all teach toward a standard, nation curriculum, but I am also finding a wealth of other books to read thanks the Zhao including a works cited after each chapter.  I could well end up ordering 20 books based off just this one book.

Some of the books that I can't wait to read thanks to World Class Learners are -

Howard Gardner Art, Mind, and Brain.

Rob Salkowitz, Young World Rising: How Youth, Technology, and Entrepreneurship are Changing the World from the Bottom Up.

Tony Wagner, The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the new Survival Skills our Children need - and What we can do About it.

Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age.

M.S. Tucker, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: An American Agenda for Education Reform.  The link to this one is an actual free pdf, so no need to pay more to Amazon!

C. Zastrow and H Janc's Academic Atrophy: The Condition of the Liberal Arts in America's Public Schools.  Another free pdf link!

What I find most interesting right off the bat is that the author notes how there are several reasons that make a national curriculum and a one-size-fits-all curriculum foolish:

First, If all the world's kids have the same skills, who will get the jobs?  That's easy, the ones who are the cheapest.  So do we really want to compete against the kids in Korea or China?  While we may one day be able to bid lower than they can for labor, but would that be a good thing?

Second, There is no way to predict what skills our kids will need to know for the jobs of tomorrow.  Just look at the past.  In the 1950's you didn't even need an education to make a very decent living.  My father is a perfect example.  But he had a strong back and a great work ethic.  What will those skills get you today?  There are some job out there calling for that skill set, but not nearly was many as there were 50 years ago.  If the top ten jobs in demand today didn't exist 13 years ago, how could we try to train or educate our kids for them?

(I'll through in a solution here - teach our kids to think critically.  That is usually a result of a solid liberal arts education.  Yet what is the first to give way in the name of raising test scores in core subjects?  Yep, the liberal arts.)

Third, Traditionally neglected skills will be more valuable.  If all the other countries are focusing on math and science, what if we focus on story and design and empathy?

Fourth, In a flat world we all need to learn the skills of acceptance and tolerance.  Yet, those are often forsaken in the name of reading, writing, math, and science.  We need to embrace our local histories and stories instead of chucking it all to focus on a common core curriculum.

Fifth, In a global economy niche talent can be leveraged to create breakthrough careers and fields.  In the sake of getting everyone to "master" science and math, we neglect the talents of those who don't fit into those fields.  So what about the kids with charisma and personality and passion who may have a field in politics?  Or what about the kid who is good with his hands and is destined to be a carpenter? How many wood working and carpentry programs exist in high schools today?

Just look at entrepreneurs and see how good they were in school.  I bet they were rebellious, distracted, and often in trouble.  I think that's where the old saying "A students end up working for C students" comes into play.

Another interesting aspect of the book is addressed in chapter 2 where he examines just how much the world has changed.  Are we really preparing our students for the 21st century or the 20th century?

Some interesting stats -

Life expectancy: in 1820 the average lifespan was 26. In 1900 it was 31.  In 1950 it was 46. In 2000 it rose to 66.  Now it currently stands at 77.  

The main idea here is that people today are living longer than ever before.  Thus, they have a longer work life too.  That helps make jobs scarcer than ever.

Compounding this is the world's population.  In 1800 it was 1 billion.  In 1930 it was 2 billion.  In 1959 it had risen to 3 billion.  In 1987 it was 5 billion.  Today? We're at over 7 billion people.

Basically in over two century life spans have improved by 50 years while the total population has skyrocketed by over 6 billion.

Not only are people having longer work lives, but there are more people to fill jobs.  Add to that the fact that many jobs are being automated, it leads to even fewer job.

That's scary.