NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL
New LH superintendent urges departure from old classroom
PEARCY — Lake Hamilton’s new superintendent, Shawn Higginbotham, advised teachers to “get comfortable with being uncomfortable” Tuesday during the district’s annual back to school meeting in the Lake Hamilton High School auditorium.
“Together, we’ve got to create the best school that this community deserves and its students need for life in the 21st century,” he said, advocating for updated approaches to education and a departure from old classrooms models.
“The last time we changed our educational system was 130 years ago. We can’t do the same things. This is not business as usual. We were organized and designed at a time, 130 years ago, to do the things that don’t exist anymore.”
He said the “agriculture class” dominated at the turn of the previous century, along with the “service class,” and the working class that arose as a byproduct of the Industrial Revolution, which all hit their peaks “in about 1980.”
“The only class of workers that continues to increase is the creative class,” Higginbotham said.
He quoted a 2013 statistic from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which estimated that 70 percent of jobs that existed at that time would be replaced by automation by the year 2050.
“Doesn’t it deserve some attention on our part to look at these things and think about these things that we’re doing and not just start another school year down the same trodden path?” he asked.
“What are the implications for us? What do we need to do? I am trying to make a case for change and improvement and doing something better and something different. Because if we’re going to make a difference in these children’s lives, because their life is their future, not our past, then our adult behaviors are going to have to change. And we’re going to ask you to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
Higginbotham elaborated on “creative class” jobs, specifically citing the mobile apps and gaming industries.
He said that since 2008, “in just five years, more than 800,000 jobs. Fifty billion apps were downloaded within five years. In 2013, it was a $10 billion industry.”
Higginbotham said gaming was a $160 billion industry in 2013, “more than gambling in Las Vegas.”
“What skills are required to do these jobs? Creativity. It’s the creativity class. Programming for sure, of course, coding. Problem-solving, art, architecture, anatomy, sound, music, composition, perspective, color, light, shadow. All these skills. Where are kids learning these skills? Are we providing these? Arts and applied technology are no longer optional, but fundamental. Employers don’t care what kids know. They care what they can do. Are we meeting the needs of
the 21st century student?”
To meet the needs of modern students, Higginbotham discouraged educators from placing emphasis on memorization, recall, recognition and matching and multiple-choice assignments and tests.
Instead, he encouraged them to focus on factors that have the “biggest impact on learning,” including curriculum, significant time spent on purposeful reading and writing and “sound, effective lesson delivery.”
“We’re going to simply focus on what works. And not just what works, but what works best,” he said.
Within those parameters, he said literacy skills and proficiency will receive priority.
“The truly literate will rise to the top of the pack. Levels of literacy account, more than anything else, for success in college. It’s the most important indicator. We have the opportunity to prepare record numbers of students for the rigors of college and life in the 21st century if we will emphasize literacy. Because we are not where we need to be.”
Higginbotham urged the teachers to strive to improve the school’s overall academic performance.
“We have excellent facilities at Lake Hamilton. We have a highly qualified, award-winning, well-compensated faculty and staff. We have an extremely supportive community. We have a fantastic extracurricular presence statewide and nationally. What can be said of our academic performance? Average? It makes us feel better to compare ourselves to the state average, to schools around us that are about the same size. I’m out to change that,” he said.
“I don’t just want to win at these other things. I want to win at all of it, and I want you to come with me. And I want to do this together, because we can.”
Other highlights of Tuesday’s meeting included “Minute to Win It” style games with prizes sponsored by Big Red Valero Stores and Little Caesars Pizza, and a review of school social media guidelines.