Are Gifted Students Really Prepared for the Future?
Think of how technology has changed society in recent years. We have grown to love (and hate) computers with word processing, online bill paying, shopping online, and financial management. Computers can now integrate with televisions and music systems. They are used to remotely monitor activity at home and turn on and off various appliances. We have cell phones, text messaging, iPods, Blackberries, Bluetooth wireless devices, etc. These are not new technologies for our students; instead, they are a completely normal part of their lives. But, how do students use these innovations? Are they used productively?
The Internet article,
Schools Failing Dotcom Kids, reviews the philosophy of
Ian Jukes, international educator and author. Jukes feels that teachers need to focus more on higher-order thinking skills and critical problem-solving techniques to prepare students for the future. While he does not speak directly about gifted kids, he focuses on the same concerns that we have in gifted education—rigor and relevance. He cautions us to prepare children for their future and avoid producing “highly educated useless people.” (Hmmm, an interesting thought. I haven’t quite decided how I feel about that one yet.)
I do agree with Jukes that the dotcom generation lives in a culture that is fundamentally different from the one in which we grew up. For the first time in history, teachers are facing students who often know more about the digital landscape than they do. He believes that information fluency should be taught in every classroom in the same structured manner as academic subjects.
We need to teach information fluency, not just information literacy. Information fluency allows information seekers to ask good questions using a wide range of resources, then analyze and authenticate data and apply it.
Kids should be taught:
- thinking skills: critical thinking, problem solving, applied reasoning, information processing, new communication skills;
- technical skills: technical reading and writing, the ability to apply technology creatively and apply it to academic subjects;
- personal skills: goal setting, self-assessment, organization and time management, change readiness, stress management, digital entrepreneurship, marketing, and self-marketing; and
- workplace skills: to be future focused and aware of trends, understand the global marketplace, and to know how to work and learn in teams.
This all certainly sounds different from a traditional education, but it also makes a lot of sense. It also sounds extremely difficult to add to everything else that is taught in school. If students are to even come close to learning all these skills, it will take more that just the schools to teach them.