Technology is changing faster than humans can adapt to it. According to Thomas Friedman, humans need to accelerate in our abilities to learn and govern in order to catch up with technology's exponential growth, and I agree. As the graph pictured above from Eric Teller (CEO of Google's X Research and Development Lab) in Friedman's book, Thank You For Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations illustrates, "the rate of technological change is now accelerating so fast that it has risen above the average rate at which most people can absorb all these changes. Many of us cannot keep pace anymore."
For example, Friedman explains that companies like Uber disrupted the market for traditional taxis and public transportation, "but before the world can figure out how to regulate ride-sharing, self-driving cars will have made those regulations obsolete." Friedman explains what used to take generations for societal or technology changes to happen now happen in about ten to 15 years. However, technology is changing at a rate faster than that, right around five to seven years. Since slowing down technology is not an option, one solution is for humans to "enhance our ability to adapt even slightly" which would make a significant difference.
So where do schools fit into this? Friedman explains that we need to be lifelong learners, not just K-12 or K-college learners. We need to be agile, "willing to experiment and learn from mistakes", quickly innovating and reevaluating to keep up with the speed of change today. We need to help our students learn this important mindset. It will only hurt us if today's students see their education as ending upon graduation. It is also imperative for today's students to learn to adapt and change faster than ever before in order to keep up with the technological changes happening both now and in their future. It seems like the easiest way to start making these mindset shifts occur is for today's educators to not only be aware of them, but begin addressing them in their instruction. Start including this in conversations, discussing it, and modeling it. Be a lifelong learner, flexible and adaptive, and instill the importance of this on today's students!
Another great example from headlines and current events besides ride sharing is CRISPR. CRISPR is a DNA editing tool--learn more from one of my favorite podcasts, Radiolab. It's actually a couple years old, but changing things faster than humans are ready to handle. Many people still even haven't heard of it. Last week I wrote about The Need for Computer Ethics to be taught in schools and cited many other great examples for powerful classroom discussions on the topic. With the rapid pace at which things are being invented, evolving, and adopted, it is more important than ever that we not only teach and discuss the ethics of these changes and inventions with students, but also help them learn to deal with all of it at an ever accelerating pace.
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For example, Friedman explains that companies like Uber disrupted the market for traditional taxis and public transportation, "but before the world can figure out how to regulate ride-sharing, self-driving cars will have made those regulations obsolete." Friedman explains what used to take generations for societal or technology changes to happen now happen in about ten to 15 years. However, technology is changing at a rate faster than that, right around five to seven years. Since slowing down technology is not an option, one solution is for humans to "enhance our ability to adapt even slightly" which would make a significant difference.
So where do schools fit into this? Friedman explains that we need to be lifelong learners, not just K-12 or K-college learners. We need to be agile, "willing to experiment and learn from mistakes", quickly innovating and reevaluating to keep up with the speed of change today. We need to help our students learn this important mindset. It will only hurt us if today's students see their education as ending upon graduation. It is also imperative for today's students to learn to adapt and change faster than ever before in order to keep up with the technological changes happening both now and in their future. It seems like the easiest way to start making these mindset shifts occur is for today's educators to not only be aware of them, but begin addressing them in their instruction. Start including this in conversations, discussing it, and modeling it. Be a lifelong learner, flexible and adaptive, and instill the importance of this on today's students!
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| Image Source: Radiolab |
Related posts:
- I've written about Friedman before--also see The Golden Rule in Cyberspace.
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