As Sugatra Mitra says in his illuminating Ted Talk Build a School in the Clouds, "schools as we know them are obsolete." This phrase resounded in my mind again and again as I interviewed not one, but nearly twenty young students at my middle schools, ranging from ages 10-14 and grades 6-8. Each of them (and sometimes a group of them) received a series of questions (many of which were provided by my peers in this course), and I was not only shocked at how similar many of their answers were, but by their overall level of boredom and disenchantment with school.
My first adolescent interview left much to be desired. The answers were obvious, plain and expected. He was an 11-year old boy in 6th grade. In fact, his answer were so mundane (without the Internet I'd read a book; my parents set a 2-hour limit on games; I'm never on social networking), I quickly started interviewing a bunch of kids at a time.
I expanded my interview to even more students in my 6th grade humanities class, as well as those I had taught in 7th and 8th grade (who regularly came by around lunch). One day in particular (as I asked questions all week long) about fifteen boys and girls flocked around me and I offered questions raining from how they spent their day (both online and off), what they did online (specifically what sites they routinely visited), and what skills they had learned online (most took a long, long time to answer that one).
Some answers really stood out. For example, when the majority was presented with: "What would you do without the Internet," most yelled out, "I'd die!" or "kill me now." Curious about their common reaction, I probed further. "What does that mean? Explain?" Again, most of their answers were exactly alike, regardless of age, race, gender or social status: "My life would shut down without the Internet. I mean…I'd still have schools so I could see my friends, but without text messaging or Instagram [or whatever social networking site they were on] I'd be trapped - I wouldn't know what to do." I wasn't sure what that mean, so again, I probed further. "Extrapolate." The answers were again similar. "I guess I'd be forced to look at the world around me." Not one, but a number of them replied, "I'd be more…aware…of this class, of outside….I would actually BE with my friends instead of looking down" (one of them pantomimed texting).
Most of them - with few exceptions - discovered quite on their own that without technology they might learn more about life, read a book, play outside, or maybe even study for a test. Really? I thought. This seemed too good to be true: All the world's problems solved without the Internet!? I wasn't buying it…"Great! I said, "I'll get rid of the class computers tomorrow and shut down the WiFi at school!" They all looked horrified. "Don't do that! Don't do that! School would suck!" they cried. "But you just said…" "No!" one of them screamed, "School is boring." Wait a minute, I thought: Now that makes sense…
At the end of the day, it wasn't the fear of the Internet shutting down that got my students riled up, but the idea that they'd spend most of their lives in school with teachers they didn't like, lessons they called boring and "meaningless assignments" that only wasted their time. "Explain that," I asked. "Online we can chat with our friends," one of them said, "and do homework and projects together on Google, which is good because I don't always understand the assignments." They all eagerly agreed, and it reminded me of a quote from Living & Learning with New Media Literacy, which said, "Unlike what young people experience in school, where they are graded by a teacher in a position of authority, feedback in interest-driven groups is from peers and audiences who have a personal interest in their work and opinions." (p. 64). Another student said, "I learn a lot online, more than in school because I can learn whatever I want." And it reminded me of something Don Tapscott said in his video Growing up Digital, which was, "What has to change in schools? The model of pedagogy has been around for a long time…drill and kill…test me. This generation has grown into interacting so this is inappropriate."
What struck me most about my adolescent interviews was how shockingly out-of-touch schools are with modern life. Any negative the kids brought up about a world with no Internet revolved - not around their daily lives at home or with friends but around a palpable fear of being left alone in a classroom with a teacher they hated to do assignments they felt were completely unrelated to their lives. 90% of them agreed on this. But this certainly doesn't mean we all need to run out and buy computers for our classrooms. It just means we need to be more aware of how our students today learn. They need to be more active, social and engaged. Everyone should be working in teams, and they should get to choose some of the topics they study. That's why whenever I start a unit like 'Ancient Rome' I have them research any aspect they want. They love that, because it's just like the Internet - they get to explore and work with others, and they're constantly moving and jumping from one topic to the next.
So teachers take note. The past is gone. No more lazy worksheets and boring lesson plans that take no effort or creativity to design or implement. What did I learn from this assignment on "growing up digital"? That teachers and schools need to prepare for the future, or they need to prepare to be obsolete.
Resources:
Mitra, Sugata. TED (2013). Build a School in a Cloud. [Online video clip. YouTube.] Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud?language=en
Tapscott, Dan, "Growing up Digital" (*Interview no longer available because it says the uploader has closed their YouTube account)
Ito, M., Horst, H., Bittanti, M., Boyd, D., Herr-Stephenson, B., Lang, P.G., Pascoe, C.J., & Robinson, L. (2009). Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. PDF file is included in module.
Josh,
ReplyDeleteGreat findings. Indeed some are expected. It seems to me that parents, teachers and others are at least educating students on some of the dangers online.
It does not seems too surprising on the surface that people "would die" without the Internet. I was having a discussion with my son today and he was laughing about how people are just fixated on their handheld devices. He is very happy to have an iPod for music, but prefers to curl up with a book for hours in his room.
I remarked that it is very different from when I was a kid. He was curious why I was so concerned that mommy have her cell phone when they went out (like when I am at work). I simply stated that she is responsible for four lives other than her own and I feel better knowing that if there was a problem she's more likely to resolve it faster with technology than without.
He pondered that for a moment and realized that although some people are fixated on the Internet as entertainment, it could be viewed more importantly as a means of rescue. It works both ways since these tools can also be used to track, but I wonder how much of this is being taught to our children.
I totally agree that teachers will be obsolete if they cannot stay on top of all the technology and social media.
Bill
Hi Josh,
ReplyDeleteAs Bill replied, your findings are very interesting -- but (to me) also very disturbing. Do kids these days hate school that much? I do not think that any generation of kids really liked everything about school, but, deep down, there was always something to like about school. It seems as if the Internet experience these young kids are having -- every hour of every day -- is making the school experience much more alienating.
I am beginning to relate to these kids because of the experience we are having in the MALET program. Let's face it! We are spending a lot of time online. I am taking two courses and I am starting to feel as if my whole life is being spent online! As I said in another post, when I walk by a classroom, it, now, appears to me to be in slow motion. That might be what all these kids feel. They are bombarded with constant stimuli from a multiplicity of web sites -- all the time! It's almost as if they are using drugs. So when they are not on the Internet, it's like withdrawal symptoms -- from the Internet drug of choice. I, sometimes, feel it myself. The effect of the non-stop stimulation from the Internet is magnifying the boredom these kids feel when they compare their school experience with the Internet (drug) experience. The experience these kids experience from the traditional school model cannot compete in any way, shape or form with the multi-modal stimulation of an online immersion. It appears to be so addicting that these kids cannot look up when they are immersed in their smart phones. I just wonder what kind of person I would be if I were a kid growing up today -- in this digital culture. I am afraid to ponder it.
I thought it was interesting that you referred to Don Tapscott. I would really like to read his book. Tapscott (based on the video interview) thinks these kids are really smart and that the problem lies with the schools, not the students -- and that the schools have to catch up with these students -- at least digitally -- not the other way around. As Tapscott mentioned in the interview, and you wrote in your blog, these kids are about collaboration and interaction. That's why a lot of these kids do not want to work in traditional offices. I understand how these kids feel. That's why I became a librarian. I was so bored working in the business world -- pushing papers around. I think these kids feel the same way. It's not fulfilling -- and even deadening -- so these young people are staying away from traditional offices -- if they can.
Thanks for posting this.
Robert