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.