[From Seth Godin, Stop Stealing Dreams http://www.squidoo.com/stop-stealing-dreams]
 

A hundred and fifty years ago, adults were incensed about child labor. Low-wage kids were taking jobs away from hard-working adults.

Sure, there was some moral outrage about seven-year-olds losing fingers and being abused at work, but the economic rationale was paramount. Factory owners insisted that losing child workers would be catastrophic to their industries and fought hard to keep the kids at work—they said they couldn’t afford to hire adults. It wasn’t until 1918 that nationwide compulsory education was in place.

Part of the rationale used to sell this major transformation to industrialists was the idea that educated kids would actually become more compliant and productive workers. Our current system of teaching kids to sit in straight rows and obey instructions isn’t a coincidence—it was an investment in our economic future. The plan: trade short-term child-labor wages for longer-term productivity by giving kids a head start in doing what they’re told.

Large-scale education was not developed to motivate kids or to create scholars. It was invented to churn out adults who worked well within the system. Scale was more important than quality, just as it was for most industrialists.

Of course, it worked. Several generations of productive, fully employed workers followed. But now?

Nobel prize–winning economist Michael Spence makes this really clear: there are tradable jobs (doing things that could be done somewhere else, like building cars, designing chairs, and answering the phone) and non-tradable jobs (like mowing the lawn or cooking burgers). Is there any question that the first kind of job is worth keeping in our economy?

Alas, Spence reports that from 1990 to 2008, the U.S. economy added only 600,000 tradable jobs.

If you do a job where someone tells you exactly what to do, he will find someone cheaper than you to do it. And yet our schools are churning out kids who are stuck looking for jobs where the boss tells them exactly what to do.

Do you see the disconnect here? Every year, we churn out millions of workers who are trained to do 1925-style labor.

The bargain (take kids out of work so we can teach them to become better factory workers as adults) has set us on a race to the bottom. Some people argue that we ought to become the cheaper, easier country for sourcing cheap, compliant workers who do what they’re told. Even if we could win that race, we’d lose. The bottom is not a good place to be, even if you’re capable of getting there.

As we get ready for the ninety-third year of universal public education, here’s the question every parent and taxpayer needs to wrestle with: Are we going to applaud, push, or even permit our schools (including most of the private ones) to continue the safe but ultimately doomed strategy of churning out predictable, testable, and mediocre factory workers?

As long as we embrace (or even accept) standardized testing, fear of science, little attempt at teaching leadership, and most of all, the bureaucratic imperative to turn education into a factory itself, we’re in big trouble.

The post-industrial revolution is here. Do you care enough to teach your kids to take advantage of it?

 

Tags: stopstealingdreams

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Digital Citizenship Topic Strands

"Digital Citizenship" ends up being a broad term used to discuss a variety of topics. Responses from the survey included the following. To suggest additional topics, please respond to the survey.

EDUCATION & CLASSROOM 

  • 21st Century Skills
  • Appropriate Technology Use
  • Citation
  • Classroom 2.0
  • Creative Credit and Copyright
  • Creating Adult-Student Dialog
  • Critical Thinking
  • Curricular Integration
  • Digital Certification
  • Digital Curriculum
  • Digitization of Academic Content
  • Educational Technology
  • ePortfolios
  • Grade-level Programs
  • Libraries and Their Role
  • Mico-credentialing / Badges
  • Online Collaboration
  • Online Engagement & Participation
  • Parental Involvement
  • Professional Development
  • Social Media in Teaching & Learning
  • Student-led Activities
  • Student Voice

GAMING

  • Multiplayer Gaming

 

GLOBAL

  • Global Citizenship
  • Global Collaboration
  • Global Connecting
  • Global Education
  • Global Learning
  • Intercultural Communication
  • Intercultural Understanding

GOVERNANCE & POLITICS

  • Censorship
  • Civic Education
  • Digital Inclusion
  • Equitable Digital Access
  • Freedom of Speech
  • Government Accountability
  • Information Power Shifts
  • Informed Citizenry
  • Net Neutrality
  • Political Conversation
  • Regulation
  • Social and Political Movements
  • Threats to Democratic Principles

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

  • Digital Health and Wellness
  • Digital Life Balance
  • Social and Emotional Well-Being
  • Self-Image and Identity
  • Screen Time
  • Social Media Wellness


INFORMATION, MEDIA, & NEWS LITERACIES

  • Algorithmic Influence
  • Critical Thinking
  • Data Shaping
  • Digital Creation
  • Digital Curation
  • Digital Literacy
  • Echo Chambers
  • Evaluation Skills
  • "Fake News"
  • Financial Incentives / Cui Bono
  • Information Literacy
  • Media Literacy
  • Media Creation
  • Metaliteracy
  • News Literacy
  • Participatory Digital Environments
  • Producing and Sharing Information
  • Purposeful Consumption and Feed Readers
  • Search Algorithms
  • Source Evaluation
  • Web Literacy

ONLINE TEACHING & LEARNING

  • Blended Learning
  • Digital Badges & Certification
  • Instructional / Learning Design
  • Online Learning
  • Online Teaching


ONLINE COMMUNICATION, PRESENCE, & PERSONAL BRANDING

  • Appropriate Commenting
  • Digital Communication
  • Digital Etiquette / Netiquette / Respect
  • Digital Footprints
  • Digital Identity
  • Digital Reputation
  • Online Presence 
  • Online Reputation
  • Personal Image (Persona) and Identity Online
  • Professionalism
  • Respectful Behavior


PRIVACY & LEGAL

  • Copyright
  • Creative Commons Licensing
  • Digital Image Use
  • Digital Law and Legal Compliance
  • Digital Privacy
  • Digital Responsibilities
  • Digital Rights
  • Fair Use
  • Permissions
  • Plagiarism
  • Privacy Settings
  • Privacy Tools
  • Respecting Intellectual Property


SAFETY & SECURITY

  • Blockchain
  • Cybersecurity
  • Digital / Internet Safety and Security
  • Identity Theft
  • Managing Personal & Photographic Information
  • Password Management
  • Personal Accountability Online
  • Personal Data Storage and Security
  • Predators & Predatory Behavior
  • Protecting Private Information
  • Risk Management Online
  • Staying Safe Online


SEARCH

  • Search Literacy and Skills
  • Search Result Shaping
  • Search Tools


SOCIAL ISSUES

  • Digital Access
  • Digital Communication
  • Digital Divide


SOCIAL MEDIA

  • Balancing Online and Face-to-Face
  • Social Media Behavior
  • Social Media Safety
  • Social Media Skills

OTHER

  • Accessibility
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Crowdsourcing
  • Digital Commerce
  • Digital Life
  • Digital Nomads
  • Open Access
  • Seniors and Technology Use
  • Social Media Use
  • Virtual Reality

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