January Head's Letter: Notes from the Future

January 2009
Head’s Letter

As a Progressive educator, I believe curriculum is a living thing that should be continuously attuned to a changing world. One of the hats that I wear is that of Park’s chief futurist. I don’t claim any particular expertise in this area other than keeping up with current thinking regarding future trends. I do so because we have a responsibility to deliver an education that helps prepare students for the world in which they will live. This may seem innocuous, but it is actually a departure from more traditional philosophies of education that hold that learning a fixed body of knowledge and a discrete set of skills is the best foundation for life (think “great books” or “the 3 R’s”).

I am not advocating doing away with a liberal arts education, but I do believe that it needs to be augmented, particularly in light of the ways that the world is changing. A recent United States National Intelligence Council report, Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World, is just one of many trends analyses that suggest the United States is facing changes that our society may not be ready for. The study projects that by the year 2025, "the accelerating pace of globalization and the emergence of new powers will produce ‘a world order’ vastly different from the system in place for most of the post-World War II era.”

In what Newsweek editor Fared Zakaria has described as “the rise of the rest,” America will be joined by fast-developing powers, notably India and China, on top of a multi-polar international system. This may lead to the U.S. dollar shrinking to "first-among-equals" status among key world currencies. There is increased probability of global conflict over scarce resources, including food and water, and a widening gap in birth rates and wealth-to-poverty ratios between developed and emerging economies. By 2025, the impact of climate change will become pronounced, with some Northern economies profiting from longer growing seasons and improved access to resource reserves. How do we help our children navigate a more green and global world? This report, like so many others, concludes that education is the key.

The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner picks up where the USNIC reports leaves off. Wagner, a Harvard professor, posits seven skills that he believes are essential to twenty-first century learners:

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Collaboration across Networks and Leading by Influence
Agility and Adaptability
Initiative and Entrepreneurialism
Effective Oral and Written Communication
Accessing and Analyzing Information
Curiosity and Imagination

I am particularly attuned to Professor Wagner’s thinking because I have worked with him in the past, conducting a study of rigor in my former school. I found his thinking to be grounded in the reality of hundreds of school visits, and I believe his critique of the way we “do school” is both provocative and accurate. He certainly pushed me to reexamine some of my fundamental practices.

While the thrust of Wagner’s book is a plea to rethink how we might reform our current system of education, I find myself much more interested in the compelling rationale he builds for the importance of these particular skills in the context of a changing world. Indeed, much of Park’s current curricula, culture, and pedagogy are aimed at helping students acquire most if not all of these skills. I was especially struck by how closely Wagner’s list correlates to the Habits of Minds and Essential Skills frameworks that we currently use to guide our curriculum development.

For me, predictive works like Global Trends 2025 and The Global Achievement Gap provide further confirmation of the inherent wisdom of Progressive education, as well as a framework to help Park further refine our living curriculum.