Learn Time's Info Center

Monday, February 28, 2005

Bill says High Schools are Obsolete

Bill Gates made news over the weekend by stating that the nation’s High Schools are obsolete.  Duh??  I’ve said the same thing for a long time, for a lot less money and with much less fanfare. 

From there the panel of states that are looking at education goes a little off base.  The focus still seems to be on preparing students for college.  Hello out there.  The statistics don’t show an overwhelming need for college.  Employers are guilty of assuming that because so many workers come to them with limited skills, they must require a degree if they expect to get skilled workers. An honest analysis would show that what is required is advanced education beyond high school. So, from that standpoint high schools are failing.  Students leave schools without the desire for or the ability to succeed in advanced education.

I would argue that reform should start a little earlier...perhaps middle or elementary.  The vast majority of these schools still teach kids the way it was done 50 years ago.  “If it was good for me, then...” you might say.  Not so quick.  Education may be the only thing in society where change has been lacking. 

Think about it.  Kids have TV, VCRs, DVD, PS2s, Xboxes, Gameboys, MP3 players, cell phones that take pictures and record videos...and their primary educator at school still does the old chalk and talk while they still sit in columns and rows!! That’s crazy. 

How do you expect to keep the kids engaged in that environment?  When I was in school I always asked questions about the relevance of what we were learning.  I thought the reason that I learned a particular math lesson was if I was ever on a train leaving Philadelphia traveling at 70mph and my friend was on a train leaving Chicago traveling at 50mph… You know the problem.  My math teach taught math her entire life.  She never worked at another job...not one.  She was clueless as to how and if what she was teaching might apply in the real world.

We need to be asking those questions.  If we leave it up to the colleges, we will fail.  They are failing now and refuse to admit it.  Having a degree without marketable skills means nothing.  The educational level of employees at Barnes and Noble and Starbucks is evidence of this.  Colleges cannot or will not move quickly enough to supply the ever changing workforce needs.  Imagine a degree in computer science that is designed as a 5 year program...and complete by many in 6 or more years.  How useful is the material learned in the first half of that program??  It’s like pulling up to the gas pump in a behemoth like a Ford Excursion.  If you don’t shut the engine off, you may never fill it up. 

If schools are to succeed in helping our children to learn, they must engage them at an early age and continue to do so at all levels.  Just changing high schools is not the answer.  Start early, engage the students with hands-on relevant learning.  Let the students be responsible for their own learning.  Give them a reason to learn what is being taught.  I guess I have to get off my soapbox for now...gotta run down to Starbucks for my morning latte.