Opinion
Curriculum Opinion

We Need to Modernize Education. The Clock Is Ticking

Flipping the curriculum could help us meet the demands of the artificial-intelligence era
By Charles Fadel — December 11, 2017 | Updated: December 15, 2017 2 min read
BRIC ARCHIVE
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and biotech are redefining what it means to be human—and employable.

Jobs are disappearing as automation replaces the need for people. New occupations are emerging that demand competencies that can transfer across the multiple assignments workers will experience in their lives. The disappearance of global boundaries presents opportunities—and risks—for all workers.

These changes demand a significant, ambitious evolution in how we prepare students for their future in a world that’s increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. We need a relevant and modernized education.

Commentary Collection

BRIC ARCHIVE

In this special collection of Commentary essays, professors, advocates, and futurists challenge us all to deeply consider how schooling must change—and change soon—to meet the needs of a future we cannot yet envision.

This special section is supported by a grant from the Noyce Foundation. Education Week retained sole editorial control over the content of this package; the opinions expressed are the authors’ own, however.

Read more from the collection.

Mass schooling may have served us well so far throughout much of modern history, but the 21st century bears little resemblance to the past. Children today must still learn traditional disciplines such as math and language, but these are not enough if they are to succeed in a very different world. So why not also teach entrepreneurship? Social sciences? Technology and engineering? Wellness?

What should we teach young people in an age where search engines have answers for factual and procedural knowledge? When artificial intelligence analyses, synthesizes, and creates? We must begin by pushing a lot harder to reach “transfer"—the ability to use one’s competencies outside an original classroom setting, in the real world, perhaps many years hence. This was always the goal of an education but rarely a deliberate, comprehensive, systematic, and demonstrable focus. In essence, we should be “flipping the curriculum,” inverting our focus from information and knowledge into expertise and transfer (refer to chart below).

flipping the curriculum

Further, we need urgent action on the nonacademic qualities young people need for success. And so, we need to shift from a purely knowledge-based education toward a focus on skills (creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration), character (mindfulness, curiosity, courage, resilience, ethics, leadership), and meta-learning (learning how to learn, growth mindset, metacognition). Schools will need to prepare students to find the intersection between these four dimensions of knowledge, skills, character, and meta-learning.

21st century learner

Such a re-imagining of education will require a profound redesign of curricula where modernizing what students learn is an imperative. Where science, technology, engineering, and math matter more than ever, but humanities and arts remain essential, each discipline borrowing from the other for a deeply versatile education. Where skills, character, and meta-learning are developed deliberately and fully, not haphazardly. Where working with others, at school, in the community, and in the workplace is as vital as ensuring growth at every academic level, allowing top students to thrive while assisting all students in the areas where they are struggling.

Time is running out, but luckily, we know how to redesign curricula. We need only the vision and courage to do so.

Coverage of science learning and career pathways is supported in part by a grant from The Noyce Foundation, at www.noycefdn.org. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.
A version of this article appeared in the December 13, 2017 edition of Education Week as How to Modernize Education For the AI Age

Events

Student Well-Being K-12 Essentials Forum Boosting Student and Staff Mental Health: What Schools Can Do
Join this free virtual event based on recent reporting on student and staff mental health challenges and how schools have responded.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Curriculum Webinar
Practical Methods for Integrating Computer Science into Core Curriculum
Dive into insights on integrating computer science into core curricula with expert tips and practical strategies to empower students at every grade level.
Content provided by Learning.com

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Curriculum Opinion I Quit Teaching to Become a Climate Activist. Here's Why
Have you recently talked to a teenager about climate change? If not, you should. Here’s what we’re getting wrong about climate education.
Bryce Coon
5 min read
conceptual digital image of a fragile cracked eggshell planet earth
iStock/Getty
Curriculum In Their Own Words Why I Kept Teaching To Kill a Mockingbird When Others Wouldn't
A recently retired English teacher explains why she continued to teach the classic novel after it was challenged in her district.
6 min read
Retired teacher Ann Freemon is pictured in Everett, Wash., on November 24, 2023.
Retired teacher Ann Freemon is pictured in Everett, Wash., on November 24, 2023.
Chona Kasinger for Education Week
Curriculum More States Require Schools to Teach Cursive Writing. Why?
Technological advances notwithstanding, advocates give a long list of reasons for teaching students cursive.
5 min read
Photo of child practicing cursive writing.
iStock / Getty Images Plus
Curriculum Computer Science Courses Are on the Rise—But Girls Are Still Half as Likely to Take It
Schools expanded the availability of foundational computer science classes, but stubborn gaps in access to those courses persist.
4 min read
Photograph of diverse group of primary school students using laptops in a bright classroom.
E+/Getty