Facing Their Future

For the promises our teachers gave
If we worked hard
If we behaved
So the graduations hang on the wall
But they never really helped us at all
No they never taught us what was real          
- Allentown by Billy Joel

Billy Joel originally called this song Levittown, but changed it for musical and thematic reasons. Musically, Allentown (PA) sounded better. But it also had a familiar problem. A depressed factory town suffering from global realities. What happens when traditional practices do not match changing needs?

So the graduations hang on the wall
But they never really helped us at all

Today's college graduates are facing high rates of unemployment and underemployment. Graduates are finding themselves unqualified for the high-paying jobs that are offered, but overqualified for the low-paying jobs they are taking, often 2 or 3 at a time to meet their expenses, which include massive student loans. 

The world is well into another industrial revolution. Corporate and national economies are highly interdependent and technology dependent. The global economy has a voracious appetite and it's clear that today's graduates cannot satisfy that hunger. It's clear that traditional practices do not match changing needs. So if today's public school system was designed to feed the needs of the 18th Century Industrial Revolution, isn't it time for the system to evolve to meet the industrial needs of the 21st Century? 

Yet today, many school districts across the country continue to adopt curriculum, sometimes provided by their state eds, that emphasize standardized teaching and learning for the sake of preparing students for high stakes tests. It's a policy that's failing children. It limits their growth by telling them what to do, rather than asking them how they will do it. Educators and policy makers must give up outdated practices and curriculum that do not inspire today's learners. Children come to school wanting to explore, wanting to create, wanting to contribute. It's time for a curriculum that is facing their future and allows them to tinker, invent, collaborate, and communicate with the world. It's time for an Educational Revolution.