Sing Out!

We Americans love our freedoms, and we’ve thrived for four centuries singing our own original make-no-excuses, know-no-limits song. From east coast colonies to westward expansion…liberating Europe to landing on the moon…we’ve sung with the pride of taking center stage. And in the process, we’ve developed our own theme, our own style, our own voice. It has served us well. But the world has changed…so quickly we may not yet appreciate how much. And as world leaders, we can’t simply sing our own song anymore. The entire world is connected and creating an entirely new kind of music. Everything people, companies and nations do contributes to the score. We have a responsibility to contribute to humankind…to what is in the best interests of people everywhere…a soaring score that celebrates not just U.S.-centricity, but us-centricity…all of us on this earth.

A good example of why we need this shift is the recent controversy over an American-made farce in which two bungling characters are asked by the American government to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. With tensions escalating over the impending opening of the film in theaters, Sony chose not to release it…but the tensions continue. Yes Americans are free to make and view whatever films they wish. Yes, it is illegal to hack into a network and then steal and publicize the information accessed. But these facts miss the true origin of the problem: making a film, no matter how tongue-in-cheek, that targets a real head of state for murder is a provocative act in a world where actions, reactions and ramifications occur in real time. We need to acknowledge the difference between a film built around fictitious characters and a film targeting the intended demise of a named world leader. Today, citizens of the earth all share one stage and we must sing a new song…a song that resonates with hearts and voices worldwide.

A characteristically American refrain might be, “We’re a free and open society, and we won’t be pushed around,” decrying the acts of cyber-terrorism…demanding that the criminals be held accountable. This is an authentically American response to adversity. But making claims that “North Korea now runs Sony” or “Now countries all over the world are going to dictate what Americans say and do” are disingenuous and self-serving coming from members of the very industry that created this crisis in the first place. Clueless arrogance creates aural dissonance; where is the harmony?

Recognizing the world has changed and that we all need to get along together, show each other respect, and help each other contribute to an emerging global society, we need to be more mindful and responsible in singing our song. It’s not reasonable or acceptable to make a film about assassinating a current leader of any nation. It incites anger and retaliation, regardless of that leader’s standing on the world stage. And refusing to accept our responsibility for this in the name of free speech and free enterprise rings hollow. We can help set the tone and tempo for an anthem welcoming in a new global age, but we need to be willing to change our tune, to do so.

Remaining true to our own American song is to turn a deaf ear to the rest of the world. We need to recognize and respond to new music we hear in the air, and make it part of who we are…not just as U.S. citizens, but as citizens of the world. We’re actually well-positioned to do this. China, India and Brazil are all singing and seeking their parts. So is Russia, though it too struggles to hear beyond its own musical tradition. Leading from strength, thinking and acting more globally and inclusively, Americans can help compose a new theme of a caring, connected, collaborative global society…and in doing so, create a place for our children, their voices resonating with the voices of children all over the world.

No one can make us change our world view. We need to choose to no longer be exclusively U.S.-centric, but us-centric…because “us” is no longer three-million people inhabiting the United States, but seven-billion people inhabiting the entire planet…we are all in this together. And in choosing a more global view, we can’t rely on media, political and business interests to call the tune. We have witnessed first-hand the mess that can create. No, the only way we’re going to build a caring, collaborative global society is through education…teachers, students and families working together…our voices heard above all the of the bygone ballads and competing interests…belting out a new song loud and strong…together, all over our world.

Sing Out!
by David Downes and Brendan Graham

Sing a new song to the world
Let your voice be heard
Go and bring the word
This whole world was meant to be
For you as well as me
For humanity

We all travel the same road
Carry the same load
Reap what we have sowed
You are hoping just like me
To live with dignity
Hoping to be free

Sing out, sing out, sing to the world
Sing out, you will be heard
Sing the message and the word
Sing a new song to the world
Sing out, sing to the world

If your God’s the same as mine
Has been for all time
Why are we so blind?
What we’re doing in his name
Well, its a crying shame
We all cry the same

Sing out, sing out, sing to the world
Sing out, you will be heard
Sing the message and the word
Sing a new song to the world
Sing out, sing to the world

No One Right Answers Anywhere

Today I’m announcing a game-changer. And once you let it sink in you won’t be able to look back. Ready? Here it is: there is no one right answer. And I’m not just talking about in classroom instruction and achievement assessments. This is bigger than that. There are no one right answers anywhere, at any time, in life.

How can I say this? The dawn of our global society is shining light in every corner of every culture, every context, every preconceived assumption, and forcing us to think beyond traditional ideals and values.

You can have one right answers in isolation…in a silo…in a vacuum. You can control the variables there. One right answers can still exist in algebraic equations, but they no longer apply in everyday life…and they no longer apply in education.

This means standardization is a false premise for any education policy or practice. Standardization was an industrial-aged ideal that aspired to a specific profile of student success. And in the process we labeled and marginalized anyone and everyone who didn’t fit that profile.

Intelligence quotients are no longer acceptable in quantifying human potential. A century ago the IQ was formulated to identify an entire class of bean counters and paper pushers. There is a much fuller, richer spectrum of human ability which our global society seeks to tap into today.

The profession of education is no longer one class of workers who can be led along like sheep. The decentralization of education to meet the unique needs of all teachers, students and families is the strongest force for true reform of education as an institution.

Traditional formulas for success are also becoming irrelevant. Policies set by elected officials stand like paper tigers, and students today are poking holes through the arbitrary expectations that have no basis in how they learn, grow, and contribute to a global society.

There are no traditional career paths moving forward, either. Students will have multiple careers. So will teachers. No one will prepare for one profession. Everyone will create their own opportunities to contribute to the global economy, and no one will be thinking of “job security” as experience, seniority or tenure.

When there is no one right answer for anything, all the handicaps and obstacles fall away, and everything becomes possible. It pushes us past our physical and mechanical limitations to redefine our world, our work, and our worth. It will no longer matter where we are on this planet, we will all matter. We will all make a difference. And finally and for the first time, we will begin to make progress on all of the unresolvable problems of every age that has preceded ours: war, famine, disease and good stewardship of the earth.

As a member of the last wave of the baby boomer generation, I am resigned to the fact that we have the hardest time letting go of the one right answer mentality we inherited from our parents and grandparents. I have also come to accept that this transformation to a global society probably won’t hit critical mass until my generation is no longer in power to reinforce the outdated value of the one right answer.

But I am bound and determined not to fade away without speaking strongly in support of our progeny and the steps they are taking towards that global society they see so clearly within their grasp. They do not limit themselves to one right answer. They do not accept preconceived notions of what is possible. They ask questions. They seek answers. And they solve problems. Who can be opposed to that?

As uncomfortable and uncertain as it may be to let go of the world we once knew, it is time to acknowledge there is no one right answer anymore. Creativity. Innovation. Transformation. Buckle up, baby boomers. It’s going to be a wild ride.

MIT: 16 Recommendations to Engage a New World

Reposted from MIT News:

“The MIT education of the future is likely to be more global in its orientation and engagement, more modular and flexible in its offerings, and more open to experiments with new modes of learning. Those are some themes of the 16 recommendations contained in the final report of the Institute-Wide Task Force on the Future of MIT Education, convened 18 months ago by President L. Rafael Reif to envision the MIT of 2020 and beyond.

Among other priorities, the Task Force’s report urges the establishment of an MIT Initiative for Educational Innovation, to foster ongoing experimentation and research in teaching and learning, and recommends that MIT engage with teachers and learners worldwide to broadcast this educational innovation well beyond its own campus. The report also suggests that MIT consider offering different levels of certification through its online-learning ventures, MITx and edX, and recommends that the Institute redouble its commitment to access and affordability — possibly by increasing MIT’s undergraduate population, which has remained stable for decades despite increasing demand, or by providing flexibility to allow students to complete a traditional undergraduate degree in less than four years.

In its final report, the Task Force organizes its 16 recommendations around four themes:

1. laying a foundation for the future, by creating a proposed Initiative for Educational Innovation;
2. transforming pedagogy, largely through “bold experiments” sponsored by the proposed new initiative;
3. extending MIT’s educational impact, to teachers and learners well beyond its own campus; and
4. enabling the future of MIT education, by cultivating new revenue streams and envisioning new spaces to support learning at MIT.”

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The Global Gap for Marketable Job Skills

Reposted from the WISE ed.review:

“Globally, study after study is coming up with one message: graduates lack essential skills to get by in the workplace. They lack skills like communication, teamwork, critical thinking, the ability to work under pressure, and even punctuality! In a global survey of business leaders by Hult International Business School (2013), one of the key insights was that leaders held mostly negative views on both the process and products of business education, noting that students lack ‘real world’ experience; both in terms of experience and learning from faculty with real world experience. The survey noted that same missing skills [namely self-awareness, comfort with uncertainty, creativity, and critical thinking] while noting that education systems overemphasize functional knowledge.

This has become a ‘global gap’, and the search for ways to close the gap are afoot; in early 2014, the Economist teamed up with Lumina Foundation to launch a global challenge [with a reward to 10,000 USD] to find solutions to bridge the gap between the workforce and higher education. The central question in this competition is: How can companies work with higher education to ensure that the higher education system better prepares workers to be successful on the job and teaches skills that will remain valuable in the future.

Are schools and higher education institutions doing enough to prepare students for the world of work? Isn’t it their role to equip students with the skills that employers demand? Why are employers not doing much about it, and should they do more to smooth the student’s transition into the work life? I argue the answer to these questions is ‘simple’. The world of work has changed so fast in the past 2 decades, and the higher education system simply did not catch up. We have 20th century higher education systems, institutions, and faculty, trying to prepare students for a 21st century world of work.”

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The Virtuous Cycle of Education

This review of the United Nation’s Millennium Goals targeted to be achieved by 2015 are reviewed here, through an examination of the vicious cycle (from low access to education, to illiteracy, to poverty, and low socioeconomic status and back again) becoming virtuous. With one year left to realize these laudable goals, how far have we come, how far do we have left to go, and how does this factor into the ongoing discussion of public education transformation? You be the judge!

Preparing Children for Their Transformational Future

Yong Zhao explains how the standards movement trains students for a transactional future. Instead, he suggests, schools should prepare children to be imaginative, creative and entrepreneurial so that they are ready to lead a transformational global economy.