My Future of Learning
The Future of Learning
Matt Cialkowski
1. Somebody has to be the Underdog
It seems like nobody wants to have hardships and challenges. Not every future-oriented scholar can come out on top. I always see people who have to work hard at what they do and really put their nose to the grindstone to get ahead in life. I also notice it is these people who I view as the most successful. Instead of getting college, money, and fame handed to them, they earn it themselves.
What a great role model – I wish I could be strong enough to rise through the ranks and be successful by my own definition. I don’t want to be spoon-fed the world’s view of success, which is full of celebrity breakups and drama. Boycott drama.
So teachers – teach me how to be the underdog – how to come in losing and come out on top, or come out losing and learn from it. Only by challenging myself will I be successful.
2. Help Me to Care
I’m going to be honest with you. At this point, it is hard to care about school. The routine, the work, weary hum-drum of the day. It gets to me after a while, and I become so bored, I stop caring.
I know I should care, and I know I could care, but somewhere in that line of thought I get lost. If I care enough to know I should care, why don’t I? I’ll tell you why – I am not motivated just because you say I should be. I need excitement, and rewards. I need to know that what I am doing is going to benefit me, or else it is not worth doing.
After high school I need to get into a good college – why?, so I can have a high paying job – why?, so I can make lots of money – why?, because that’s how you define success. I can’t be motivated for your definition, even if that’s what I want but don’t know it yet.
Help me care about what I think is important, and what will make me a better person. There are days where I am so tired of it all, where I just would be content enough to do nothing. That isn’t what I want for my life, so help me care about my future, because you play a part in it.
3. School 2.0
With all of this technology in our hands, are we making it count when and where it matters most? Think about that question as I think about how my school could be. Instead of writing down notes in regular notebooks, wasting paper and pencils, I could be multi-tasking on a lap-top where I am reading the book as a PDF and taking notes directly onto my computer. But wait, that would be too inconvenient right now because it is too expensive to provide computers and other technology. I’m not suggesting we put satellites in space and communicate with each other via billion dollar space satellites - that is beyond ridiculous. If computers are too much to ask for, can I at least have more classes in a lab setting? It would be nice to use math computer programs or learn about the Revolution online for a change.
But please, please don’t waste my time. I need to be well-rounded and I learn fine in a classroom also. Don’t sacrifice material and good teaching for using technology. Instead of being helpful, that would be detrimental, since I would only be a technologically literate but unknowledgeable person. I want both.
What Makes a Question Good?
Everyone has heard them, and everyone knows what I am talking about - the bad question. It comes randomly and strikes fast, and it leaves everyone within earshot groaning. What is worse is when you ask that question yourself. I don’t want to resort to asking bad questions, I want to only ask questions that help me learn and make me a better student, let alone person.
I need to ask questions that pertain to life as I live it and life as other people live it. By understanding a situation, I can excel when that situation arises. I need to understand life. I need to understand life so I can grab onto it and take a trip, and hold onto it and not be thrown off. Asking questions is the seat belt. It is what keeps me holding on, and gives me my edge. If I can see the daylight, I can ride out the storm. A question is good when it deals with life.
Talk about a learning curve here: “So teachers – teach me how to be the underdog – how to come in losing and come out on top, or come out losing and learn from it. Only by challenging myself will I be successful.” I am going to think about this some more, and then we will talk, on or off line.
There are no bad academic questions. Take a look at this link from Mr. Ziegenfuss and then tell me what you think: http://www.stsd.org/tech_news/102706.html.
I agree with Mr. Ziegenfuss in that a mind that can’t ask questions is like a ship without a rudder, stuck going with the flow, and unable to change course. All it can do is copy others and that forces it to lose its originality. What I believe though, is that there are two types of questions: questions that support factual information, and questions that enhance wisdom. Questions that deal with easy answers and facts are good questions, but not necessarily the “right” questions all the time. The situations that encounter personal growth and character development often require the second type of question. These questions not only cause the questioner to grow intellectually, but knowledgeably. The difference between being intellectual and wise is confusing to some. A person can know everything in an encyclopedia, but if they can’t utilize it, or choose not to, they are a fool. However, a person could know next to nothing, but if they know how to use what they have, they have everything. This is what I mean when I say a question is good when it deals with life. By growing in wisdom and the ability to use what I know, I make myself much more valuable. That is the purpose of a good question.
This website was interesting: http://rachelstarrthomson.blogspot.com/2006/09/childlike-wisdom-of-asking-questions.html
The part about King Solomon caught my eye.
I agree with many of the points you make in your post. I think that learning how to come from the bottom and make your way to the top is an extremely important part in living a successful life. Most of the individuals that the media classifies as “successful” would have a complete breakdown if they were ever faced with a real problem. For all of us outside of this “plastic” world, it is essential to know how to deal with hardships and setbacks with a positive and constructive outlook.
I am in complete agreement with your perspective on a school for the future. Making progressions in the technological field within our school would be beneficial only partway. Things like laptops and virtual classrooms would be beneficial, but there is also many pros to learning in a regular classroom environment as well. Schools in the future need to maintain a balnce between technological and social classrooms to be the most effective.
This is a site about a school which I feel does just that:
http://www.microsoft.com/education/schooloffuture.mspx
This site is also very informative regarding a school of the future:
http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr046.shtml
“After high school I need to get into a good college – why?, so I can have a high paying job – why?, so I can make lots of money – why?, because that’s how you define success.”
I really enjoy this part of your blog a lot. Now, with the “you” italicized does that mean that is not how you would define success? Personally that isn’t how I would define it. I think success is an interesting concept when you’re thinking about life. How would you go about determining what would make you sit back at the end of it all and say “I did well”?
This guy defined success.
http://www.nonstopenglish.com/reading/articles/The-Definition-of-Success.asp
Do you agree?
I agree with you Alex, about liking this part of the blogging. Being inside of the conversation is fun. Interesting link. I liked this thread of the blog: “success has just as many faces as any other possible theme"--a good thought to remember. Success really is measured in the context of the society in which you dwell--or want to dwell--but it can also be determined by your values alone. Your “guy” said he thought great wealth, a.k.a. success, would change nothing about his life--that he would be the same. I doubt that; I do think that attaining great wealth (when you hadn’t lived with it growing up) can change you, if you let it, and that change can be good or bad. It all comes down to your values; if they do not change for the worse, then I think success and/or wealth does not impact you. Don’t you think, Alex, that it all depends on the individual.
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