#globaleducation
GVO Update April 04, 2020
When I wrote this Observation in September 2019, I did not anticipate the impact a pandemic might have on traditional classroom education. My only thought was that Classroom Education was a product of the Industrial Park era which I knew was passing away. With nearly 100% of high school students walking around with smartphones in their hands, it was easy to predict the demise of the live Classroom model. Enter Siri and Alexa. These mavins of knowledge are available 24/7 and they come to you whether you are at home. on the beach, or backpacking around the country. Not only can they answer your questions on the spot, but they can point you to deep-dive learning opportunities offered for free or a modest membership fee. And as Home Schoolers know, there are many apps designed to help parents teach their youngsters themselves. Most have been approved by Public School Administrators because they are subject to the same standards imposed on classroom teachers
GVO Update December 01, 2020
The
year 2020 has been unprecedented in terms of how education is
delivered to learners. The weakness of the Industrial Park model for traditional schools, colleges and universities has been exposed by the global pandemic. Educators now see the value of remote learning in the Global Village. Those educators
who do not adapt will be left behind.The global pandemic did not cause this Powershift described by Alvin Toffler, it merely accelerated the transition. There are no schoolhouses in the Global Village.
Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash
In the Industrial Park, parents were forced to entrust the education of their children to public and private institutions. This was usually mandated by law. Parents who refused or neglected to send their children to school could face fines or even do jail time.
Schoolhouses in the Industrial Park were not much different from the factories where their parents worked. Instead of assembly lines and time clocks, there were classrooms and 45 minute class periods. Principals were de facto Supervisors who reigned over classroom Teachers in much the same way Industrial Park Managers reigned over the shop Foremen. The only difference between students and factory workers was in the resulting product. The Factory produced widgets, the Classroom produced knowledge infused children. This model served the Industrial Park well because the transition from classroom to factory was intuitive and did not require retraining or a long orientation period.
This was all disrupted with the dawn of the Powershift Era described by Alvin Toffler in his book, POWERSHIFT.
In the office, in the supermarket, at the bank, in the executive suite, in our churches,hospitals, schools, and homes, old patterns of power are fracturing along strange new lines.
Parents began to notice that the schoolhouses where their children were sent to learn were often as dismal and dangerous as factory buildings. This was unacceptable. It was one thing to expect workers to endure long hours and dangerous working conditions for their living wage, but expecting their children to learn in buildings that were dirty and dangerous was too much. So those who could afford to do so opted to homeschool their children.
Initially, this was resisted by School Authorities and the Teacher Unions because the children might have trouble transitioning from a home environment into a work environment. However, this opposition melted away when the Powershift hit the Industrial Park leaving both management and workers with the prospect of massive layoffs and abandoned buildings.
In the Global Village, all children are taught by parents or remote ;earning assistants at
home. The reasons range from wanting to provide individualized instruction that builds on a child’s strengths and interests, to health issues or special needs, to avoiding school violence and increasing family time. Thanks to technology and Learning Assistants, parents can provide better education in their own homes than Industrial Park teachers could ever imagine.
So there are no schoolhouses in the Global Village but the education of our children is only limited by their desire to learn. And that desire is nurtured daily by all residents of the Village.
