For the past several months I've facilitated Inner Circles among senior executives and thought leaders in places like London, New York, Hong Kong and New Delhi. I'll be doing another next week among fellow TEDsters in Los Angeles, the day before TED begins in Long Beach.
In all those we've conducted thus far, there is a point in the discussion--no matter the venue--where participants turn to education. Particularly to lower school education and why it is so critically important to their particular culture's ability to be innovative. Without a pipeline of curious thinkers, kids who question authority in the right way, who are encouraged to try things that do not have a guarantee of success, and to celebrate failure as a step in the learning process, everyone tells me their country, their culture will not be able to compete globally.
In many countries outside the United States, they believe that Americans who are fortunate enough to receive expensive private school education get a start that is superior to the education their children receive, at least in public schools in their country. But they suspect--and in some cases know--that most American kids who attend public grade schools and high schools are not getting a great education (there are exceptions, of course, where certain public schools are amazingly effective and are serious about their mission). And the people I talk to from outside the US have not yet seen the film Waiting for Superman, which boldly exposes the underbelly of American public school education and how badly it fails so many of our kids, giving them crowded schools with lousy uninspired teachers and administrators who care more about protecting their jobs than educating kids. Nor have they seen Two Million Minutes, the film that compares the high school experience of three kids: an American, an Indian, and a Chinese...all teenagers living through the two million minutes that are the time we spend in high school. That's not a pretty picture of American public school education, either.
Our Inner Circle participants invariably talk of the need to move beyond the bricks and mortar of physical school buildings and expose kids--using technology--to the global thinkers who can help them build their lives in ways appropriate for the 21st century. These global schools will also use technology to connect these kids to others like themselves around ther world--other curious kids excited about the academics they need to become fully activated global citizens with something meaningful to offer the world around them.
Today, a full page ad appeared in the New York Times for Avenues: The World School. This is it. At least it looks like it. It says that when avenues opens its doors in Manhattan next year, "it will take its place as one of the most rigorous and innovative schools in the city." Now here's the exciting part: "It will also be the first of 20 or more campuses, which together will form the world's first global school serving children ages three to eighteen." They are talking of a connected community of faculty and students in New York, Shanghai, London and Sao Paulo and more. This is what I've been hoping for.
Check it out at www.avenues.org. Wow!
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
What a pity I miss seeing all those gorgeous knits! Thanks for sharing the photos.
Posted by: Coach Tote Bags | February 23, 2011 at 10:57 PM