Had Enough Disruption Yet?
Like a dense, debilitating fog, the VUCA (Volatile, Complex, Uncertain, Ambiguous) world has enveloped every aspect of our lives. Humanity is facing a litany of challenging perils. The disruptions during the past two years alone have catapulted us into an intense, accelerated pace of history. It’s dizzying, frightening for adults. Amidst the chaos, I ask: What about our kids? Sadly, they have never known another world. The cacophony we have created is “normal” for them. We should be ashamed.
When will disruptions go away?
Somehow we’ll get back to the old normal, right? Well, did you get a chance to catch your breath between the better news about Covid and the start of World War III?
Yeah, I didn’t either.
It’s become commonplace to create chaos during election cycles, block supply chains, immobilize critical infrastructure, and weaponize social media platforms. In March 2021, one container ship, ONE SHIP, stuck sideways in the Suez Canal created havoc on the global supply chain’s fragile transportation system that lasted for months and cost billions of dollars.
With the evolution of Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms, the axiom of “Think Global, Act Local” no longer applies. Everyone has access to a global audience, especially young people.
It’s time to Think Global, Act Global (and local, too).
Because traditional education fails to address this phenomenon in a holistic sense, students are hyper-susceptible to influencers, good and bad. Adults are susceptible, too.
It’s been a VUCA world for a long time. The pace of disruptions is accelerating. Alas, we’ve either been too busy amassing our material treasures or just trying to somehow survive the disruptions to understand the significance.
Where has traditional education taken us?
According to the U. S. Department of Education, “54% of American adults between the ages of 16-74 read below a 6th-grade level.” Amidst the political handwringing about so-called covid learning loss, loud, uninformed voices have called for remediation. They predict the impact on reduced future earnings will be significant and negatively impact economic growth. Meanwhile, low levels of literacy cost the U.S. economy approximately $2.2 trillion each year PRIOR to the pandemic. Most, but not everyone wants public schools to get better. But, without changing core structures including providing adequate funding, it is a lost cause.
What about private independent schools and university graduates? Their traditional outcomes (high literacy and graduation rates, wealth accumulation) are much greater than public schools. Ironically, it is these very same highly educated graduates from a small group of “prestigious” educational institutions that have led us to the disastrous STATE OF THE WORLD TODAY (graphic above)! They control the political, financial, and media worlds and religiously hoard the narrow metrics that determine society’s opinion of success and failure in life.
The pandemic laid bare what many health care professionals, teachers, and parents already knew. We are in the midst of a mental health crisis. “USA Today reports that 87% of all Americans are concerned about the mental health status of young people, with two in three parents saying they’re ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ worried.” This is a worldwide health issue.
Although contributing factors behind mental health issues are complicated, students around the world are psychological victims of school systems built on unhealthy grading, testing, and college admissions practices.
Roberto Gonzalez of The Reciprocity Project discusses the state of traditional education, “it’s not broken at all, it’s working exactly as it’s meant to work, and it’s an antiquated system built for the industrial age. It’s built to keep people in line with their class—their social and economic, and of course racial and gender, class.”
Despite splashy website pronouncements about “creativity” and “innovation”, the independent school system in the U.S. and private international schools around the world are desired by wealthy families precisely because they perpetuate the current social and economic system, not because they are offering a new perspective on education that embraces equity and inclusion.
The foundational structures of school inhibit change. Conformity, control, and one-size-fits-all rule the day.
How have we equipped students to survive in a VUCA world?
Short answer: WE … HAVE … NOT.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is being labeled the TikTok War? There has never been an unfiltered war beamed directly to consumers on social media. Kids have seen real-time tragedies of war in their bedrooms, on the bus, wherever. They are attracted to propaganda videos and then create/post memes to share their feelings.
Just what part of our current curriculum is designed and delivered to support students in navigating these disruptions? 50%? 20%? 5%? 0%? How are they going to practice the skills and strategies to process this changed world? Where is the Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) course available to every student on “Sensemaking?”
Has your school evolved the curriculum so engagement and activism concerning the Ukraine War, the January 6th Insurrection, or George Floyd’s murder have a safe place to be examined?
Instead, the vast majority of what we insist students learn is a dead curriculum, meaningless to them other than passing tests. Politicians and pundits wring their hands about covid learning loss but what students need is …
… less Calculus, more sensemaking.
… less test-taking, more engagement, learner agency.
… less Shakespeare, more digital/social media literacy.
We leave students to their own literal and figurative devices outside of school to make sense of what is happening in their world. We expect students to navigate a mental minefield without the tools to survive. How do you feel about that? Is that something that schools should address?
[Here is one resource that can help: Helping Students Find the Truth in Social Media.]
Rapid shifts in schooling due to covid prove that change can come quickly. However, there was a heavy price because the disruption collided with rigid, intransigent structures resistant to the necessary change. Without structural changes that give educators and schools more flexibility in curriculum and learning pathways, future disruptions will be just as overwhelming.
Don’t say it can’t be done. A rapidly growing number of schools are dramatically shifting away from the traditional education structure. Here’s a starter list of innovative schools.
It should be every generation’s legacy to create a healthier, more humane world for their children. Are you ready to disrupt education to create this legacy for the next generation?
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
Nelson Mandela