I recently read a statement online, “As educational content becomes abundant, “experience” is the new scarcity.” This was a very interesting thing to ponder as an educator. As educational content becomes more abundant, this really is the state of the world we live in. Never before has so much information been so easily accessible for so many people. It seems that within just a few minutes I can find how to do nearly anything using a search engine. As we consider what this means to education in the future, the ramifications are incredible. The “education” process, the “schooling”, will need to change to stay relevant to the way information is created, disseminated and verified. This quote really summed all of that up for me. Educational institutions will need to focus much more on creating opportunities for students to gain experience to prepare for their work life. My fear is that our schools are gutting the very programs that can provide these experiences. We are removing the hands-on classes that provide application of academic content to make room for more test preparation. If experience will be the new scarcity, then we are committing a huge disservice to our current students. They will be living in a world where experience is more highly valued than how you scored on a test. However, there only experience will be clicking answers for filling in bubble sheets. Neither of which seem valuable the new economy. |