‘Our Education System Is Failing Because It Is Doing Exactly What It Was Designed to Do!’ – Those are the bold opening words that set the stage for concepts within The Future of Smart: How Our Education System Needs to Change to Help All Young People Thrive
This is a fascinating, must-read; that really turns the ideology of what we mean by education and its intentions on its head. The Future of Smart shows how we can build an education system to nurture the unique, human capabilities of each child, and lay the groundwork for a more equitable, just and humane future. If you’re looking to expand your knowledge on how to shift the education paradigm, The Future of Smart by Ulcca Joshi Hansen, PhD, JD may be helpful for you. Whether a parent, educator, or planner – concerned about the future of education, and what that means for humanity.
‘Our best efforts at improving education have failed to improve the lives of children, or change society for the better. This is no accident: the current system ignores our deepest knowledge about how human beings thrive.
Our ideas about what it means to be smart need to change. Being smart continues to evoke images that were birthed in the “factory model” of school, tied to a relentless focus on efficiency, effectiveness, quantification, competition. Our schools continue to operate as though the purpose of education is to sort and rank kids based on how quickly they can absorb knowledge and how long they can retain it. They divide knowledge into discrete subjects, decontextualize learning from life, and assess all students by the same criteria.
But since the early 20th century, schools have emerged that emphasize a different set of values: interdependence, community, diversity, and deep, dynamic learning. We now know that this way of teaching aligns with natural human development, facilitates learning for different kinds of brains, and prepares young people for a changing society and evolving workplace. Yet, these programs are still marginalized within America’s education system.
Blending history and science with stories from inside, Dr. Hansen explains the disconnect between what we want for our children, and what education today provides. She shows how we can build an education system to nurture the unique, human capabilities of each child, and lay the groundwork for a more equitable, just and humane future.’
About the author: Ulcca Joshi Hansen, PhD, JD
“I am first and foremost an educator, whether as a mother to my two sons, a classroom educator, a workshop leader, speaker or author. For over two decades I have been committed to moving our education system and the players within it in the direction of being human-centered: meeting the developmental needs of young people, reflecting what we know about how learning happens, and honoring the need each of us has to find, develop and live out our unique sense of purpose.” – Ulcca Joshi Hansen