Note: This blog was originally posted on Sunday, March 29,2015 on http://theanswerbydariusgrissom.blogspot.com. I wanted to capture this same content and share with my Mind Over Tutors readers. Enjoy!
The Challenge
May 26, 1994, I had the extreme pleasure of becoming a father for this first time. As with everything in my life, I welcomed the challenge and looked forward to mastering the art of parenthood, just like I had done with my education and career to that point. Little did I expect that my greatest challenge as a parent was going to come in the form of ensuring my children receive a quality education. Fast forward to today and that same daughter that was born on Memorial Day weekend back in 1994, will be graduating this May, 2015, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, after just three years of studies. I am proud! However, my son, that is less than 6 years younger than my daughter, faces a totally different landscape and set of challenges as a freshman in high school in 2015.
Education is changing at warp speed these days. What are the causes of these changes? Is it the instruction? Is it the students? Is it the parenting? Or is it something that is much more complicated than all of these things put together? I believe that it is the latter. Education, especially in the United States, has become prisoner to our own tendencies to seek perfection and our fascination with technology and growth. These are things that has moved our country forward for years and will continue to do so. But at what cost? My example here is to say that we have been very successful in moving forward with technology and we have often perfected its uses. However, I believe we have done so in the absence of ensuring that education mastery remained a part of that growth.
It does not take but one simple google search and we can find a list of sources and articles that will support that education is lacking in many countries today, including the United States.
As a matter of fact, the ASCD (Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development) has many resources, including the link above, that addresses my position. So the question becomes, “what are we going to do about it?”
Given the fact that we have already invested in the technology, what better way to move education mastery forward than through using that same technology. Computers, console games, iPads, tablets, smartphones……what did I leave out…..are all staples in the daily lives of students, parents, teachers, and administrators. It is hard to visit any location that I could give as an example and not picture people on their electronic, online capable, devices. Think of all the possibilities that come into play when we think of the internet and online communication. What are the limitations that are placed upon us at that point? What information can we not find? It sure beats driving to the public library to find an answer. It also is faster than going to the glove box in my car to break out a map for directions. Think about it…..true globalization! We can find locations down the exact latitude and longitudinal coordinates. Breaking news is delivered to us within minutes of it happening. Is this not all educational?
The power of connectivity has given us a new opportunity in education. It has given us an opportunity to be great! It has given the United States, just as an example, an opportunity to raise its standards back to the "Global Power" status in education. Note here that when I say standards, I am not talking about test scores or standardized test. I am sharing the standards of great orators, thinkers, and discoverers.
I would like to leave you with a great example that was just forwarded to me by Facebook messenger this morning.
"The World Is As Big Or As Small As You Make It" | Sundance Institute from Sundance Institute on Vimeo.
I had to share because I think it defines everything I would ever want to say about “Education Globalization through Online Learning”. What a powerful example of real learning and discovery. The level of abstract thinking that comes from this type of education is limitless. This is what our new generation of learners are expecting and require…..if we want to engage them.
If Americans are to continue to prosper and to exercise leadership in this new global context, it is imperative that we understand the new global forces that we have both shaped and had thrust upon us. The alternative is to be at their mercy. —Edward Fiske
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