I recently was introduced to a few articles on the future of education. They both say substantial the same thing. While I don’t agree with everything they say, I find their consistency fascinating. The first one is really cool white board animation by Sir Ken Robinson. He uses a white board and animation to make his points in an incredibly winsome manner. The second (shorter) one, is a blog post by the entrepreneurial expert Seth Godin. He is a lot of fun.
The moral to both of these arguments is that we have to alter the way we educate our children. Our paradigm is not working. We have to give students an education that prepares them for an unknown future—one in which they are not a cog in an industrial machine (the old paradigm is good at that). We need to give them an education that provides skills that can be used in whatever calling they choose (or whatever 5 callings they choose because flux is so rapid now that our students might be moving into many jobs in the future rather than one).
Interestingly, this is exactly what a classical Christian education provides. We want to give students broad skills—not technical knowledge in a narrow field that will likely not be there in the future. We want them to think clearly and critically about ideas. We want them to speak and write winsomely and well. These skills will be necessary in the future. You can take that to the bank! This year I have been teaching our 11th and 12th graders. Let me tell you something: they have been given an education that has helped them to think and to present material in a way that is fabulous. I am blest to be their teacher, and I am confident that they are being prepared substantially for the future that these wise men forecast.
