David Warlich is a tech writer of my generation who still pops up on my radar from time to time. In a rare blog post, he describes sneaking into ISTE for a brief time so he could see some old friends without paying the registration fees.
I am not writing to commiserate with Mr. Warlich regarding the cost/benefit of conferences for those of us who fund our own trips. I am writing to support the final section of his post. You can skip the first section unless you are interested in who he saw while spending a couple of hours at ISTE. He really should have made this two posts as the themes are unrelated and very different. Anyway, people have different writing styles.
The final section of his post was on the failure of education and educators in heading off what is a bleak time in this country. As I understand his argument, educators have been complicit in giving in to pressure to emphasize job preparation and have abandoned the development of values and skills necessary in a compassionate and forward looking democracy. I may have framed his arguments as I would have made them, but I hope this is what he was suggesting.
Perhaps we have become the followers of public opinion rather than the leaders and innovators. We do work for the public, but someone has to take a long range and sophisticated view. Someone has to suggest there is more to the future than STEM and by assuming STEM for all is worth reducing the emphasis on critical thinking as emphasized in the capacity to analyze and generate persuasive arguments, to recognize the multiple inequalities existing in so many areas of society, and to develop an awareness of the many areas that contribute to culture and values. We seem to have forgotten the multiple roles education at all levels plays. We have become cowards and purposefully avoid controversial issues willing to be told that these issues are not our responsibility.
Since when is being called an elite a label to avoid. When did the capacity to generate a well reasoned argument become less important than personal wealth? When we willingly give up the responsibility to take on selfishness, lack of character, and the encouragement of identity disputes, we deserve what we are experiencing. Hiding and remaining silent is not a solution.