Teaching Adaptation

It seems more and more lately that schools are adding a specific goal to the list they display to the public and it goes something like this;

"Prepare students to utilize 21st century skills"

Sounds good. But what does it actually mean. Far to often it means that students are simply going to be taught how to use current technology; keyboarding classes, computer centers, "netiquette". Students are sat in front of a computer and shown how to get online, how to use a mouse, how to use Office products or Photoshop or iPads. While these are all great skills to have the teaching that is done is often very superficial.

As a member of the IT department for a mid-sized school district I often have to update software to newer versions. Nothing is crazier to me then to see an educator go from version 1.5 of a piece of software to version 1.8 of a  piece of software and act totally confused about how to navigate it. They are terrified of the change and refuse to even entertain the fact that the software might be more valuable. By only teaching students how to use specific software to create specific things this is the type of user we are creating.

Image Credit: Houston Press

Schools think that best way to teach skills that students will use in the future is to teach skills that the students need now. 10 years ago the Dell Dimension 4550 was released. This computer sold for around $1000 and came with 256MB of RAM and a 60GB hard drive. As a comparison the phone in my pocket cost $600 off contract, has 1GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. That means that for nearly 1/2 the price I have a computer that is 4x faster and fits in my pocket. Not to mention that my phone can also access the internet over 500x faster, act as a GPS and even make phone calls! Usually.

No teacher taught me how to use a device like that when I was in high school, I wouldn't expect them to. What they did do for me however is inspire a natural curiosity. They taught me to explore the world around me and not be afraid to experiment with anything. That skill is what allows me to adapt to changing technology and if we don't teach students to adapt we have failed them to "prepare students to utilize" anything that they will actually be using in their careers.