New world requires new competencies
Wednesday Jan. 6, 2021 will be remembered as a dark day in American History no matter what side of the political divide one sits. For some it was a patriotic effort to “stop the steal” for others it was “insurrection”. As a non-American, I watched in shock as the assault on the US capital unfolded in the news and on social media. These last few days, I can’t help but reflect upon the ongoing battle of words, the influence those words had on individuals’ actions, and the lessons learned from these events. Alberta is not immune to bipartisanship. One only needs to look at our own political system these last few years.
Long gone are the days of Ralph Klein. Social media made sure of that. The evolution of social networks has not only enabled people to communicate and share their perspectives more broadly across great distances, but also created an information platform whereby people receive unfiltered and unverified information.
Within these platforms we often interact in an echo chamber, whereby our own beliefs are reinforced by others with similar perspectives.
Such echoes reinforce our beliefs and leads us to believe that they are shared by everyone.
We then respond with disbelief and outrage when we encounter someone who does not agree with what we assume are common beliefs. The ability to share unverified or inaccurate information via social media has created a reality whereby we can no longer rely upon what we read. It appears that yesterday’s practice of rationally disagreeing with our neighbour is on the endangered practice list.
Today we vilify those we disagree with and demand their removal from their position of authority.
Our school system is about giving students the knowledge and skills to be contributing citizens.
We focus on building competencies related to critical thinking. As responsible citizens we need to return to a time when we were able to come together as citizens and share our diverse perspectives in a respectful manner, a time when we strived to understand other’s thoughts, not punish those who thought differently.
As students interact in school and online, they must critically reflect upon what they read, they need to look at what is being said, who is saying it, and why.
We no longer live in a world where we can trust what we read. Our new world requires new competencies. This perhaps more than any other reason is why schools need to adapt and evolve. The schooling of our parent’s day no longer works to meet the needs of today’s world.
If we, and our children are to be successful in this new world, we will need new skills and competencies to interact and respond to what we see and hear online. We need schooling that prepares us for our future not our past.