4 Comments

  1. Durl

    I consider myself very lucky. I had wonderful educators, many of whom taught me how to learn and not just how to memorize.

    I was fortunate to work with computers during some of the greatest growth of the industry … from the late 1970’s until recently. The technology changed vastly. My first program was written on punched cards. Now, I have a smart phone that has more processing power than that first computer my punched cards were fed into.

    I was able to survive in a field that changed so rapidly because my computer science professors taught us more than just the “how to” of a particular language. We learned the fundamental underpinnings of the field, learned how to evaluate the pluses and minuses of new technology, and learned how to apply computer science to real world problems.

  2. Eddie Cazayoux

    In the School of Architecture we mandated that our faculty and the curriculum teach our students how to learn. We always emphasized that their education would continue for the life of their architectural practice or whatever they ended up doing. Research and critical thinking was at the forefront of any design decision. Change seems to happen more often now as I get older.

  3. Michael Young

    What you have to say is very reminiscent of Alvin Toffler’s “The Third Wave,” which I read in the early 80s when living in Houston. It proved prophetic if any book of its type ever has and has stayed with me during the years. It contained some then novel ideas about disruption and the dawn of the information age. It was a “page turner,” a term not associated with books of its type.

    Otherwise, we’re footsteps away from the moment Tesla, Google, BMW and Uber completely disrupt the trucking industry and automotive insurance industry in much the same way Steve Jobs’ I-pod seized control of the music industry by providing a superior delivery vehicle. Millions of people with no transferable skills are about to be displaced.

    I wonder how far behind teaching as a profession will follow. If one could hypothetically expose one’s children to the best teachers on the planet via the Internet, then why would one incur the tremendous expense of building schools, hiring teachers, and all the rest of it? In a sense, it’s already happened, just not with the profound rapidity associated with Jobs’ taking the music industry hostage.

    • Bookscrounger

      Good insights. I’ll have to add The Third Wave to my reading list.

      I still think the place for great teachers is in the personal connection. In my personal and observed experience, the Internet as a medium of instruction only works with motivated, advanced students. To get them to that point takes a lot of human interaction with very talented and motivated parents and teachers.

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