The New Normal
Will Richardson,
Weblogg-ed,
Apr 26, 2011
Internet marketer Seth Godin created some ripples last week saying that there is no going back from the new economic reality. "Some people," he writes, "insist that if we focus on 'business fundamentals' and get 'back to basics,' all will return. Not so. The promise that you can get paid really well to do precisely what your boss instructs you to do is now a dream, no longer a reality." Quite so. Bosses beware.
This feeds directly into education. Gary Stager takes the pessimistic view. "Things can and will get worse, perhaps indefinitely. The public is on a collision course to defund education and other services intended for the common good." Tim Stahmer points to the futility of 'reform': "At the same time we in education are also doubling down on the 'back to basics' and on teaching kids how to follow someone else's instructions." We get Charlie Mas's Orwellian vision of education.
But there's an upside. Cathy Davidson says, "'Learning' is the free and open-source version of 'education.' It's about individuals connecting to knowledge and pursuing their passions among peers and guides with fewer constraints--time, place, cash, or otherwise." See Storming the Academy and FutureClass, or MyOn learning. And Will Richardson hopes for the most positive possibility. "I don't think schools go away in the interaction, the 'new normal' will be a focus on personalization not standardization, where we focus more on developing learners, not knowers, and where students will create works of beauty that change the world for the better."
This feeds directly into education. Gary Stager takes the pessimistic view. "Things can and will get worse, perhaps indefinitely. The public is on a collision course to defund education and other services intended for the common good." Tim Stahmer points to the futility of 'reform': "At the same time we in education are also doubling down on the 'back to basics' and on teaching kids how to follow someone else's instructions." We get Charlie Mas's Orwellian vision of education.
But there's an upside. Cathy Davidson says, "'Learning' is the free and open-source version of 'education.' It's about individuals connecting to knowledge and pursuing their passions among peers and guides with fewer constraints--time, place, cash, or otherwise." See Storming the Academy and FutureClass, or MyOn learning. And Will Richardson hopes for the most positive possibility. "I don't think schools go away in the interaction, the 'new normal' will be a focus on personalization not standardization, where we focus more on developing learners, not knowers, and where students will create works of beauty that change the world for the better."
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