Reconceptualization of Schools for 2025

In creating effective public schools for year 2025, we must have our communities, businesses, and leaders realize that education is paramount. As George Lucas eloquently stated, "education is the single most important job that the human race has". The focus of public secondary schooling as we have defined in our vision statement is to "foster independent thinkers who are ambitious and innovative". The best way to insure that this aim is reached successfully is through recruiting, preparing, and retaining the best teachers. Research has shown the United States is lagging behind many developed nations in Europe and Asia, such as Japan, Finland, and South Korea (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/26/world/main530872.shtml). This gap continues to widen as the United States systems delves into mediocrity. Attracting, developing, and rewarding great teachers is common practice for these high-achieving nations. In Korea teachers with 15 years of experience make 221 percent of the country's GDP per capita, while teachers in the U.S are in the middle of the scale around 96 percent of the country's GDP per capita http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/teacher-pay-around-the-world/ .

We must make education a funding priority rather than putting it on the backburner. Providing higher compensation will attract high quality students into the teaching profession. With better teachers in the classroom, students will be challenged to think innovatively and their talents and abilities will flourish.

The structure of educational system will be integrated throughout students’ lives and will continue on throughout their lifespan. Education will no longer be viewed as a separate sphere from other activities of life but will be synthesized into one sphere of constant learning and development. As Gardner has argued in 5 Minds for the Future, "the burden of education must be shared by parents, neighbors, the traditional and digital media, the church, and other communal institutions"(165). The schools will utilize the opportunities created by technology for students to access information, engage content, and construct their own perspectives. The implementation of blended (online/classroom) classes will allow for students to have more choice in their educational path, and will also enable high achievers to advance expeditiously or pursue more rigorous course loads. 

With regard to the types of student our schools will be servicing, we will have a massive student population that is extremely diverse. In Oakes piece, Teaching to Change the World, she explains that "with increases of about 5 percent expected  every year projections are that schools will be teaching 50 million children by 2014" (5). With growth rates continuing, this means that by 2025, the student body will move upwards to roughly 75 million. These students are an invaluable asset towards the human capital for our nation. We must treat their educational process with utmost care and diligence, so that we have innovative and productive workforce for the future.

The curriculum of 2025 will focus intensively on developing the synthesizing and disciplined minds as defined by Gardner (3). With students exposed to a plethora of information instantaneously due to technological advancements, students will need to have the skills to understand and make use of these wonderful resources. Curriculum in the future must focus on depth rather than the breadth commonly focused on in today's standardized obsessed environment. As George Lucas' Foundation "10 Big Ideas for Better Classrooms Striving to Improve Public Education" highlights that integrated studies, such as cross-curricular projects give learning meaning for students and promote success. It is also crucial that assessments are not simple multiple choice examinations. As Howard Gardner explains in the aforementioned video, "Once you leave the world of testing you have to think for yourself". The schools must prepare these students with higher order thinking tasks, which prepare them for the challenges they will face when entering the working world. Standardized test will still be prevalent as a means of accountability, but courses will no longer be test-centered but rather project-centered. Essential content knowledge will be learned through higher-order thinking tasks, group projects, and independent research. 

Lastly, the pedagogical framework will move towards greater accountability, increased training, and higher qualifications for teachers. A master's degree in education will be mandatory, as higher pay will mandate higher qualified and well-trained employees. Accountability measures will drastically increase as teachers will be exposed to observations by peers, administrators, and third-party pedagogically professionals (i.e. a teacher accreditation board). These evaluations will provide constructive feedback for the teachers, prevent teachers from growing complacent, and would help rid unproductive educators from the school system. With increased funds teachers would be required to enroll in three courses biennially (one course in technology, one course in content, and one course in pedagogy). More training would provide teachers with the skills and methods to stay ahead of the curve and lead our students to success.

As a teacher for the future, I hope that we can make these positive changes happen for our school system. Not only will these changes help to close the achievement gap, but they will ensure student success and foster productive citizens for the future.

Synthesis #2 The Role of Schooling in 2025

a)      What will be the role/ responsibility of schooling in 2025?

In 2025, the role and responsibility of schooling will be to prepare students to be productive and innovative citizens who are able to function effectively in an increasingly globalized environment. As Howard Gardner highlights the insight of Winston Churchill who predicted, “The empires of the future will be the empires of the mind” (p. 11), our nation must invest in developing the minds of the future. As we have learned in this course, other powerful nations such as China, have already taken significant steps in fostering creative and innovative thinkers in the future.  Although this may mean incurring debt in the present time, the return on this investment in education will be exponential. By fostering innovation, China has sent itself up for global economic dominance. Without investing in education, which fosters these future minds, our nation will fail to thrive as a global leader.

Fostering these creative and innovative minds will be one of the chief goals of schooling in 2025. Given the rise of technology, students will have access to more information at their fingertips than any time in history. Developing this synthesizing mind, as defined by Gardner, requires that a student “understands and evaluates information objectively, and puts it together that ways that make sense to the synthesizer and to others” (p.3). If students are unable to manipulate this vast wave of information in an effective manner, we will be wasting this wonderful golden opportunity presented to us by technological advancements. Fostering creative and innovative thinking, does not mean simply requiring students to “think out of the box”. Schools must provide students with the learning experiences and the technological tools which allow for students to approach problems with new perspectives. The rise of technology, has resulted in computers and robots challenging the human brain in terms of functionality and effectiveness. In this battle of “Man v. Machine”, Gardner postulates that focusing on the creative mind allows for humans, “to remain at least one step ahead of even the most sophisticated computers and robots” (p.3).

The second aim of schooling in 2025 will be to prepare students to function responsibly and effectively on a global scale. Through advancements in technology and communication, we are constantly interconnected with people from around the globe. Functioning in isolation is no longer an option. Schools will need to engage in productive discourse with others from around the world, in order to adequately prepare students for their futures and to encourage deeper understanding of theories and concepts. Within this global aim, it is important that schools encourage the development of the ethical and respectful minds.

Gardner defines the ethical mind as one that “ponders the nature of one’s work and the needs and desires of the society in which one lives” (p.3). Student need to understand that they live in a complex, interconnected environment with many problems. Schools must be able to prepare students to evaluate and prioritize the plethora of issues affecting society.  The respectful mind is one that “notes and welcomes differences  between human individuals and between human groups, tries to understand these ‘others’, and seeks to work effectively with them” (p. 3). Advancements in transportation and communications have created an environment where students are constantly engaged with others from around the globe. In order for this interaction to be productive, students must understand the varying perspectives they encounter.

b) What rigorous/authentic learning experiences can teachers employ to engage students in learning (especially those that might otherwise be left out)?

In order to fulfill the responsibilities outline in the prior question, teachers will need to implore a constructivist approach. This approach fosters student creativity, innovation, and synthesis by allowing students multiple options to access knowledge and solve problems. Teachers must utilize and expose students to a variety of technologies to keep students engaged and prepared for a successful future. As Gardner argues, “the ability to survey huge bodies of information –print and electronic – and to organize that information in useful ways looms more important than ever” (p.11).  Teachers must teach students these important skills on how to responsibly discern information. Providing students with explicit instruction and strategies of how to properly synthesize information will be critical to student success (Gardner, 69).

Fostering respectful and ethical minds will require teachers to employ various service-learning and experiential learning projects. Through these activities, students will better understand the problems of the world around them. Students will also be exposed to new perspectives and will utilize inter-disciplinary analysis to create practical solutions.

Lastly, teachers cannot be forced into the once  common practice, of the “cookie-cutter” solution, where each student uses the same means to find a solution. Using the constructivist framework, teachers need to encourage students to develop their creative mind by coming up with innovative ways for solving problems. Students will utilize the plethora of information and technology available to them to find creative solutions. In developing their creative minds, teachers need to employ experiences for students, “where they stand a reasonable chance of success; they should practice giving and receiving criticism that is constructive; they should learn which criticisms are worth attending to and which are better ignored” (p. 87-88). With information and problems constantly evolving, teachers will need for students to utilize criticism effectively to perfect their solutions.