21st Century Education: What’s Next?…

In the post COVID world of education, three things are true.  First is a revived and urgent interest in teaching diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) with an emphasis on racial and social justice.  Second is the recognition that social and emotional well-being are critical for academic and personal growth. Third are the decreasing enrollments in traditional K-12 public schools nationally and increasing enrollments in charter schools, technical high schools and homeschooling.  .

     What is the connection between these truths? How will they influence pedagogy as well as teaching and learning for 21st century education?  What must we – educators and parents – understand in order to build and sustain a comprehensive learning environment that encourages proactive student participation?  How can learning include options and opportunities that appeal to our kids and offer the potential for stable, satisfying, and financially rewarding careers?         

     Clarification of DEI.  As stated above, in current K-12 education, DEI is often focused on racial and social justice.  These choices are understandable because for many they represent a direct response to the following: a) voter suppression in poor and minority districts that continues to escalate, b) the murder of George Floyd and increasing support for the Black Lives Matter movement, and c) the insurrection against democracy and our Capitol on January 6, 2021.  

     But the concept of diversity, equity, and inclusion spans a broader spectrum.  It includes ethnicities, nationalities, traditions, religions, women’s rights, gender identity and equality, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, weight, abilities and disabilities, plus political and social views.  Honoring DEI means welcoming everyone into the community and giving all the opportunity to contribute to it.  How  do educators implement these goals in schools, classroom, and subject matter?  

     What pedagogical lens will provide the most comprehensive perspectives for our kids? Personal, cultural relevance is the lens that will develop an understanding and lived experience of diversity, equity, and inclusion.  Relevance is the key to helping students find common ground.  Consider the topic of migration.  Except for Native Americans, all of our family histories began in some country other than the United States.  These may be shared and explored across subjects.

     In Science, children can learn about the genetic markers of different geographic areas of the world.  In Social Studies, they can share traditions and recipes - and note the similarities as well as any differences. In History, they can study not only the Holocaust, but the horrors of genocide, apartheid, and the fear of persecution in many other countries.  Students can use graphs to track the rising presence of their ancestors in the U.S. They can write a story about how their ancestors felt and what they hoped for in coming to America.       

     Students can share photographs, draw a picture, write a song, create a scrapbook.  Most importantly, students can find common ground, common experiences, and shared values by simply talking to each other, asking questions, sharing problems and interests, and opening themselves up to each other.  This is the finding of human, cultural relevance. This will be DEI in action.     

          How can instruction be delivered so that it is effective, meaningful, and relevant?  DEI cannot    be taught. Thinking cannot be taught.  Feeling cannot be taught.  Problem-solving cannot be taught. These things are learned through teacher demonstration and explanation that facilitates students’ lived experience and hands-on doing - alone and/or in collaboration - to figure things out. 

     To be relevant and engaging, students need to have the time and space to speak, express their thoughts, ask questions, engage in conversation and debate, and exchange ideas and feelings.  For it to stick, learning needs to be personally relevant, and proactive, not passive. 

Learning is more than words read in a book, more than following verbal instruction from teacher to students, more than work done silently at a desk.  These skills have value, but when it comes to teaching and learning, the emphasis should be squarely on the learning.  Children should be allowed to satisfy their curiosity, use their own thoughts and skills to problem-solve, to figure out the what and the why of things. In this way, students can live, experience, share, and optimize both personal and multiple perspectives of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

     Although educators, such as Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, have been pushing for decades, the paradigm of experiential learning that is culturally responsive and relevant does not exist systemically in most traditional public schools.  It is more likely found in some independent and innovative charter schools, career and technical high schools, and in the homeschool environment.   

      For example, some alternative high schools have off-campus internships and apprenticeships that are matched with each student’s career interests and goals. These real world programs are opportunities to explore and grow. They should be as much a part of academic requirements as English, math, history, and science, whether or not students plan to attend a college or university or opt for career readiness training or certification programs.

     Tech Schools that are hands-on Superintendent’s and parents’ testimonials Vocational programs do not exclude college-ready courses; they are not “terminal” education, but another option for career preparedness. vocational training schools must also prepare students  for college, so that they have options if job markets change. Key are adaptability and transferability of skill sets to meet job and market demands. Flexible, relevant, adaptable are characteristics of non-traditional learning environments where the culture is real-world learning and interaction, and the mind set is quick adaptability to meet market demands and develop courses and skill sets that will qualify students for both career and college-readiness.

     The world is changing and education must change, too.  Parents are choosing to move their children away from traditional teaching and learning which favors teacher-driven instruction.  They are moving toward models where their children learn to interact, evaluate for themselves, pursue their own interests while respecting the choices of others, problem-solve with teachers as facilitators, and develop marketable skills which give them career options and a competitive edge.

     Pedagogy in alternative schools can be unpredictable because it is real, made relevant to students in the moment.  Curriculum should be followed, but teaching it with a flexible approach can be satisfying, rewarding, and productive.  It may sound new, but it is not.  More than one hundred years ago, in 1916, Dewey said, “Give the pupil something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.” Almost twenty years later, in 1937, he said, “Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not preparation for life but is life itself.”

     So, what’s next? When we role-model, explain, discuss, and then empower our children to take the lead in their own learning, to think through and solve problems, to develop their own interests and purpose, social and emotional well-being, academic motivation, and personal achievement are the results.  When we give them room to learn, discover, and create, our kids will thrive, grow, and develop the skills to make their own place for success and happiness in a 21st century world.