George Couros's List: Weekly Email Division Principal

• So, suppose knowledge is not the goal of education. Rather, suppose today’s content knowledge is an offshoot of successful ongoing learning in a changing world – in which ‘learning’ means ‘learning to perform in the world.’
• In athletics this is very clear: the game is the curriculum; the game is the teacher. And each game is different (even as helpful patterns emerge). Knowledge about the game is secondary, an offshoot of learning to play the game well. As I learn to play, knowledge – about rules, strategy, and technique – accrues, but it is not the point.
• • If curriculum is a tour through what is known, how is knowledge ever advanced?
   
   
   
  • If learning requires a didactic march through content, why are movies and stories so memorable – often, more memorable than classes we once took?
   
   
   
  • If a primary goal of education is high-level performance in the world going forward, how can marching through old knowledge out of context optimally prepare us to perform?
   
   
   
  • If education is about having core knowledge, and we are more and more teaching and testing all this knowledge, why are results on tests like NAEP so universally poor, showing that over decades American students have not progressed much beyond basic “plug and chug”?
• A revealing shift in the winds has in fact occurred in our era in professional education. In medicine, engineering, business, and law courses are no longer built backward from content. They are built backward from key performances and problems in the fields. Problem-based learning and the case method not only challenge the conventional paradigm but suggest that K-12 education is increasingly out of touch with genuine trends for the better in education.

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• People also want to see that the leader’s farsightedness is based on a deep sense of what’s necessary, right, and good for the business and the team rather than what’s simply expeditious, popular, or self-serving. We want to feel that our leaders’ “far-sight” is focused on the greater good, that their vision promotes the group and not just their own selfish interests. A truly farsighted leader envisions a possible future that responds to and resonates with people’s aspirations for their individual and collective success. When employees or potential employees hear about the good leader’s vision, their visceral response is, “Yes, I want to go there too.”
• This brings up a critical point about farsightedness: the leader must not only articulate her vision; she must live it. It can’t be something she dusts off for quarterly staff meetings. People must witness the vision serving as the leader’s compass. She must use it as a screen for strategy and action. True farsightedness in a leader is both practical and aspirational.
• Leaders who are farsighted:
   1. See possible futures that are good for the enterprise
   2. Articulate their vision in a compelling and inclusive way
   3. Model their vision
   4. See past obstacles
   5. Invite others to participate in the vision

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• Too many in the education profession are advocating for more integration of technology across the curriculum without linking it to the underachievement and the literacy crisis in this country. All over the blogosphere, there are individuals discussing media, technology and other computer-related skills, while overlooking the fact that we have millions of American youth and adults who do not possess basic reading, writing and math skills. How can we seriously discuss and advocate for an increase in technology in education without first acknowledging that we have a growing population of citizens who are not even able to read a Google page for information or able to decipher media propaganda from legitimate news sources?