What is the purpose of K-12 Education?
When I ask this question to audiences I have the privilege of meeting with, there are a wide range of responses. Some say K-12 is about helping students to learn to think critically. Others give a general and perhaps idealistic speech about preparing students for the future. While both of these answers are somewhat true and relevant, what are we missing?
If we review Table 4 in the World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs Report 2018 titled, “Comparing skills demand 2018 vs. 2022, top ten” (page 12), we should notice that critical thinking skills are at No. 3 in 2018 (as compared to No. 2 in 2017’s report), but slide down to No. 5 for the skills in demand for 2022. In its place are skills like “Creativity, originality, and initiative”, and above that, “Active learning and learning strategies” at No. 2! Hang on a minute. Active learning and learning strategies sound a lot like someone who is a lifelong learner. To have strategies for learning probably involves the ability to know when to research on your own, when to ask an expert, when to work with a team, how to source materials, how to evaluate your resources, strengths, and limitations. It sounds like something that would take quite a number of years to cultivate. Am I right?
The purpose of this post isn’t to answer the question I presented in the title. Instead, I hope we can begin a dialogue about where we are in education, at this time, and whether or not it is possible to actually prepare students for the future, if we don’t know what skills they are going to need. If you compare the lists from previous Future of Jobs Reports, it is easy to see the rapid change. There are skills listed in the 2017 report, that were predicted for the year 2020 that are no longer mentioned in 2018. “Complex problem solving” was supposed to remain at the top of the list for 2020, it was listed at No. 2 in 2018, and falls to No. 6 for the skills in demand for 2022. This is what rapid change looks like.
The field of education might need to reconsider whether initiatives such as early college, and a focus on individual skill development rather than integrated skill development, whether check the box standardised tests, and all the things we spend so much money running is all worth it. Do these things develop lifelong learners who will be active and self regulated in their learning, and equipped with learning strategies? Or will they hold a piece of paper with a list of A’s and a grade point average of 4.0 and the expectation that the completion now warrants college entrance, or a job. How can we shift the focus to learning in such a way that we shape the future for the next generation?
For further reading to consider the focus of K-12, check out this recent Bloomberg article “American Students have Changed their Majors”
