ADE 634: Assignment 1

“How do we educate our children to take their place in the economies of the 21st century?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=youtu.be

The challenge that resonates the most with me is “how we can educate our children to take their place in the economies of the 21^st century, given that we can’t anticipate what the economy will look like by the end of next week”.

It is a fact that the world is changing continuously, and with it our mindset, trends and economies.  It is difficult to predict what something as complex and uncertain as the economy can be in twenty years.  As Sir Ken Robinson mentions we are trying to meet the needs of todays students with a 19^th century education system.  So WHAT is it that we can do?  I believe that the best  skill that we can instill in our students is the ability to think for themselves,  inculcate from an early age the need for caring not only for themselves but to care for the community and teach them that they all belong to a system.  

Our students should be prepared to evolve, and to adapt to these changes.  That is why as teachers we must not treat students as a “batch of 2012” students but as individuals, fostering their personalities, abilities, creative ideas, learning styles, and uniqueness. The use (or overload) of technology may seem as a challenge for students to find traditional teaching environments “fun” or “amusing”.

However as trends change we must take full advantage of the new tools to keep the 21^st century student on board and be able to have some effective influence on who they will be in 20 years.