And we're preparing them for....

There has been a great discussion going on over at Bump on the Log and We Live in Interesting Times about whether we should or should not be preparing our students for the “business world”. Now, in reading through the posts and the comments, I began to wonder what exactly we are preparing them for? I mean, I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone say

Wait until you get into the real world. They won’t put up with that or you won’t get away with that or something to that effect.

I always wondered about that whole line of thinking. Now, if we are preparing them to work in the business world, then what we do in school really should follow, in some way, what is happening in the corporate sector. For me, it’s reading blogs like Changing Way , The Bamboo Project blog and Connecting the Dots. They help me to see what is going on elsewhere. I have also hooked up with some blogs that deal with training like Janet Clarey and Donald Taylor . I am able to see how what they discuss should have overlap in our educational systems. Sometimes it does and, well, sometimes it should.

Now, if we aren’t preparing them for the business world, then we had better be preparing them to be productive citizens in our supercharged, superchanging society. Really, we have no other option, do we? But hold on, if we are doing that, where are all the tools and technology that are changing how society looks at almost everything. From fastfood to virtual worlds, we are experiencing a time when change is the norm. Yet, for all the changes that have been directed at schools, we continually see that, in fact, they haven’t really changed all that much. They are still very similar to what they were in past decades where learning is controlled and dolled out in small measures at appropriate intervals. Where those who excel at taking tests continue to rise to the top and those who don’t fit the system are skimmed away.

So what exactly are we preparing them for? Does the comment about entering the real world hold true? Have we become so removed from what is going on around us that we are now petrified into inaction? Is this why teachers and others refuse to change the present system? Are we afraid to become relevant? Do we fear that in doing so we would be found lacking? Should we not be saying something like “This is a trial run of what life will be like?” “We’re here to help you build your skills for life tomorrow.” Unfortunately, at this point, we don’t seem to be doing that at all. So, although the conversation at Tim and Brian’s is very interesting, it might be more theoretical than real. Unless, of course, our school systems begin to change in dramatic ways. Well, it could happen!