Needs of the 21st Century

Rigor Redefined. It’s a fun little alliteration, but one charged with meaning. This was the title of an article I read recently by Tony Wagner on the burgeoning problems facing employers and employees alike. This man has gone and spoken to several hundred leaders in various fields of work. These men and women had some very interesting things to say. They spoke about leadership, teamwork, and asking good questions to name a few things that are required in a good worker. The main point of the article however, was to illustrate that schools country-wide are not teaching these things at all, or if they are, they aren’t doing it as well as they could be.

What really struck me about this was all in the last half of the article, when Mr. Wagner relays what he saw when he sat in on classrooms all over America. It was almost as if the teachers had given up, and even when they tried to engage students all they got in reply was a disinterested mumble. However, though it was the students where not engaging themselves in the lesson, I believe that the fault is both students and teachers alike. Teachers should not simply give up, or answer the question for the student when they don’t get an answer; such a thing is not in their job description. At least, I don’t think it is. Anyway, the point is that the business world is rapidly changing to fit the needs of the 21^st century; schools will have to change as well, and fast.

Ourselves?

Michael Wesch certainly has some interesting ideas. In the video I watched for this week’s PLN called Web 2.0… The Machine is Us/ing Us.

It showed, in a very imaginative way I might add, how the web is a constantly moving and shifting, allowing us to move our way of thinking, learning, and living into a new era. Or at least, that’s what I got out of it. Maybe someone else will have a different interpretation.

            The thing is, I don’t necessarily agree with what Mr. Wesch is trying to say. Not all of it at least. Actually, it’s mostly the last two seconds that I have a problem with.  At the part when the video is just about to fade out, it leaves us with stating that we need to rethink ourselves.  Now, all the other things I get, love, government, authorship to name a few. But ourselves? Is that really what we will have to do in order to move on into this 2.0 world? If so, I fear for us. I really do. Our lives should not revolve around the online world. The things we do and say on the web affect our lives, however the web should change to suit us, not the other way around. I don’t want to trample on Mr. Wesch’s beliefs, but I’m not sure I agree with him on this one.