Trade Commission Presentation:
Distance Learning to Transmit 21st Century Skills- Pros and Cons
Good morning ladies. I am honored and privileged to be here before you. In the 1800’s the Underwood typewriter was invented. The keyboard system it used was called the ‘dvorak’ for the top line up of keys on the keyboard. Unfortunately, that speed at which an individual could type under this system was faster than the machine could function. The keys kept sticking and the machine malfunctioned. The line up of keys was changed into the ‘qwerty’ system to insure slower typing. It was designed for failure. In the 1940’s the electric typewriter was invented and the new machine installed the former ‘dvorak’ keyboard. The typewriter was an instant failure and the inventors returned to the ‘qwerty’ design. Now computers move as fast as light speed and still the ‘qwerty’ system is maintained even though it was designed to slow down the typist. Why? Human beings resist change in every arena of life unless forced to do so.
Pure and simple, people resist change of any kind because it takes conscious, courageous and sustained effort to transform undesirable habitudes, beliefs, thinking and attitudes. Psychologists predict that for every pattern of behavior in need of alteration, at least 28-31 continuous days of conscious re-patterning must be maintained for the new behavior to be sustained permanently. If learning to tell the truth at all times is the objective, for example, conscious awareness of every time the slightest fib is told for a month with determination and awareness is a necessary step in repatterning. Each time, the span from moment of conscious awareness of fibbing to catching the self will diminish until the period is instant and complete; awareness emerges before the words leave the lips. The habit is altered and consequently, the awareness of others who in turn tell untruths becomes evident. By acknowledging and restoring balance and, taking responsibility for actions, a heightened sense of mindfulness transpires.
This is very hard work. Repatterning is a thousand times more difficult than learning something difficult for the first time. Maintaining the ‘status quo’, not ‘rocking the boat’ and living like a ‘couch potato’ has become the American tradition because its easy, painless. Oliver Sacks, author of Awakenings, tells the story of Virgil who was blind at age four and regained his sight at fifty. What should have been a miracle became an unwanted, painful interruption to a comfortable routine and fantasy. Virgil was secure in his blindness. Regaining his sight meant that a new world of experiences were ahead.
Like Virgil, educators are comfortable in academic routine blinded by the larger and more demanding concerns because there is an atmosphere of seeming ‘control’ that seems to annihilate every form of potential chaos. The lack of ‘self-control’ however, of teachers, students, parents and principals is the mysterious, invisible element that propels individuals into the need to control others. When education becomes a ‘service’ model, fear of loss of control depreciates in direct ratio to enabling ‘self-control’ to flourish. In order for education to shift, there must be a gentle order building on the stepping stones of the past with the co-operation and input of all players concerned which represents parents, students, teachers, community, business, legislators and administration in a demeanor of service.
SOFT SKILLS
Dan Goldin, (2000) CEO of NASA sights seven deficiencies of education:
separation from nature 2) inability to deal with {public} failure gracefully 3) inclusion reflecting the face of America {80% of Americans are women and minorities} 4) brain lock- lacking multidimensional thinking 5) positive recognition for everyone 6) soul nourishment 7) teamwork skills .
Dr Bohm continues on the need for order and chaos as a prerequisite for intelligence:
The whole question of order plays a key role in creativity. Of simple regular orders and chaos, there is a rich new field of creativity. The generative and implicate order of things becomes possible to understand the enfoldment of creativity from even subtler levels, leading to a source that cannot be limited or grasped in any definable form of knowledge or skill. This source cannot be restricted to particular areas like science or art but involves the whole of life. Therefore, the creative surge that is called for will have to be general and pervasive, rather than limited to special fields.
There is a driving need to infuse ‘soft skills’ into the curriculum. In 1999, Philadelphia First, a member group of Fortune Five Hundred Companies, surveyed company presidents to determine the needs of business for the 21st century. Overwhelmingly, the issues of ‘soft skills’ pervaded the dialogue. The executives defined these skills as the intangible proficiencies and qualities that elude direct and measurable assessment. Some of these include: ability to accept criticism and move on, ethics, group creativity, ability to work in multiple context simultaneously (cross functional skills), time and stress management, resilience, initiative, teamwork, flexibility, respect, punctual, dependable, trustworthy, strong work ethic, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, personal character skills and communication. Industry has for the past decade trained employees in the skills required for specific job function and schools have, presumably, prepared children with intellectual prowess, however, it is the family, the culture and the community in the formative years of a child’s life that supposedly transmit these vague ingredients for implementation of future life and career success. In this mobile, intellectually driven and family fractured nation, these attributes and social skills are lacking, absent, much less transmitted, throughout a child’s life.
What are ‘soft’ skills? Basically, soft skills are the ability to communicate, work as a team, solve problems and the principles or steps involved in achieving that process. “A kid who graduates from high school needs to be flexible, adaptive, a quick learner, team player and a problem solver,” states Theodore Hershberg of the University of Pennsylvania. “When they leave school, they should be able to use technology, solve problems and think on their own.” For many years, schools have built curriculum around memorizing facts and taking tests. However, memorizing facts is unusable in the Information Age. Students no longer need to burden the brain with trivial information. But rather, need to be able to know how to access the sources and resources available and ask appropriate questions for finding the answers. Although memorization is necessary in some subjects like mathematics, understanding and the reasoning behind the formulas and equations is more significant for depth of learning. Employers want graduates with the mental agility to learn newest job skills as they are invented and the ability to team with co-workers to solve problems.
The easiest means to identify soft skill traits is to compare them with hard skills1,2,3. The ‘mind, will, feelings and spirit’ are definitive of soft skills. The ‘intellectual, rational, logical and analytical’ are reflective of hard skills. Soft skills rely on patience, extended time, faith, intuition while hard skills require quick response, loyalty, intellect. First, a list of primary identifiable characteristics is in order.
Soft Skills Hard Skills
simple complex
relent unrelenting
quiet laborious, moving
delicate heavy
adjustable conditioned
flexible stable
disintegrate crystallized
yield unyielding
modify exacting
mellow tedious
fine tough
tender firm
give receive
feathery solid
treat lightly strong
hazy rigid
relaxed fossilized
stretch stiff
expansion contraction
beyond senses senses
listening hearing
dialogue talking
goal oriented task oriented
meaning mechanics
It is imperative that children learn both sets of tools and more importantly, their appropriate conditions for usage. This is not a masculine-feminine issue. Most individuals viewing the ‘soft skills’ column contend that these are feminine or female characteristics. Depending on disposition and temperament, it is less likely that adults feel more comfortable with characteristics like ‘feathery and delicate’ than with ‘solid and stable’. Yet to live fully in the human condition, a child must learn to relent on some occasions and stand firm on others. The oak tree stands firm against the elements and growing adjacent is the willow tree, flexible and just as strong. The deer, a docile creature, is more prolific in the animal kingdom than tigers that are physically stronger and less agile. Soft skills categorically have been considered traits of weakness. Traits like creativity and problem solving in the soft skills category are contrary to hard skills such as reactionary and impulsive. Both are equally important to the human condition. Knowing when and how to use them is an art form.
The equality of using these skills is examined through the conduct of the scientist and the inventor. A scientist has a certain attitude about nature that represents the discovery of laws, which are held sacred, relating to inert objects. An inventor discovers the laws that hold true for all things and changes their direction. One discovers the laws and the other puts them into useable form. Since law is restrictive and limits possibilities, the inventor must use the laws instead of being blocked by them. If a carpenter is sawing a board and discovers that he is working against the grain, he flips the board around so as not to have the saw accidentally ‘jump’ off the board when it hits the grain. Hindering the inventor is a built-in predisposition in all structures to resist change and revert to something new. Both the expertise of the scientist and inventor are equally valid.
When considered on the next level, soft and hard skills quantify behavior that enables society, culture and civilizations to flourish. Again, each column reciprocates the other to promote change and to maintain order. These include:
Soft Skills Hard Skills
initiate maintain status quo
teamwork individuality
commitment duty
creativity reproduce
depth breath
original copy
inventive repetitive
imagine realistic
critical thinking go along
offense defense
responsibility loyalty
open closed
free boxed in
moving stagnant
Society conveys to its children that ‘soft skills’ are a sign of weakness. Individuals that possess these ideals are considered spineless, deficit and more importantly, continuously lose because they always acquiesce or give up something or a part of something in the process. The act of yielding suffers defeat, losses assets and submits to the control of others. Where would life be on this planet if the seed do not acquiesce to the plant? What would the surface of the earth resemble if the ocean did not submit to the shore? How would civilizations perpetuate if the good of the individual stood firm against the benefit of the multitudes? The planet would be continuously embroiled in battle and war if ‘yielding’ was absent from choice of behavior. Soft skills are a unique type of quiet, unmitigated and steady source of strength that underlies the highest rules of order amidst humanity and the universe.
In a comparative analysis, research shows the following about Distance Learning;
If monitored properly: If unmonitored:
STRONG POINTS WEAK POINTS
One-on-one lack communication skills
Private, quiet, good concentration lonely/alone
Time to play isolation
Time for quiet brain dysfunction; overuse
Humane cocoon existence
Sensitizing social skills lacking
Time spent responsibly emotional skills lacking
Self-motivation wired; edgy
Initiative active
Creativity addicted
Violence free
Free of peer pressure
Stable, family fundamentals
Free of conflicting values
Cause-effect healthy
Graduation in less time
Instant accessibility to information
Distance Learning is changing the landscape of American education. This is not a new concept. Years ago, it was called Correspondence School. Students have been receiving an education other than the four corners of the classroom for generations. SHOW BOOK. Pat Montgomery became weary of the public school system in Chicago and 28 years ago, started the Clonlora School, one of the first K-12 distance learning schools in the world. Pat travels the globe educating countries in the processes of achieving academic excellence through the distances. Sandy Hurst of Upatinas School and Open Connections here in PA is private schools have done distance learning as well. This is not a new concept. Rather it is a time-honored method of learning that has been traditionally open to children who were at-risk, home schooled or did not fit into the traditional educational setting. This text lists many schools of distance learning of 25 years and more.
Technology is replacing teacher control of classroom curriculum, content and time spent by student-parent control. The responsibility of learning through distance learning is on the student where it belongs. Students and parents have access to choose courses of study. More demands are placed upon teachers. No more can a teacher wait for weeks to grade and return papers. Computer age requires instant results and students are demanding it.
Long held beliefs such as children need an adult to supervise the educational process; that days must be chopped up into little pieces without continuity so that upon graduation, mysteriously and magically student have a clear integration of subject matter; that everyone learns at the same rate at the same age; that textbooks hold the only key to guiding the curriculum; are crumpling.
At this moment, technology changes every 6-12 months. A student attending community college for technology certification has obsolete skills before she graduates. Educational changes linger over committee meetings, continual changes in administration, school boards, governmental legislation, red tape, union negotiations and the list goes on. If education is going to keep pace with technology, then Distance Learning is the obvious choice.