Are we preparing them for what's coming? Do we know what's coming?

Its not about the Interactive Whiteboard in the classroom, although it is part of it. Its not about smart phones, tablets or the internet, although they, too, are part of it. Its about the technologically rich environment that is building up around us and whether or not we learn and teach this environment or we continue to teach the environment that is disappearing.

And as Ben Jones says, classrooms are not broken, they are just not reflective of the outside world. The video below, although an advertisement, can give an idea of the environment that is building around us:

Are we (parents, teachers, community members alike) properly preparing our children for this new environment? How much of this new environment already exists?

Non-agricultural communities knew the workings of their environment intimately and taught their children accordingly (See Levi-Strauss, 1962). Farmers gave their children chores so they learnt how to look after animals. Parents used to give their babies plastic hammers to play with and the toy only made the squeaking noise when the right hammer action was used. This was how we taught industrial children about the environment they were growing up in. How are we teaching our children the new environment?

Courtesy of: OnlineSchools.com

All this, of course, is about the physical environment that is changing. There is the social environment that needs to be looked at as well but I don't know where to begin on that side. Mostly because I don't fully understand it yet.