Yesterday I wrote about a Stanford University’s Center on Longevity report titled The New Map for Life: 100 Years to Thrive. A copy of yesterday’s article can be found here.
Today, let’s discuss the implications this report might have for our country’s public education system and the probable need for a new system of learning.
With all of us living longer, increasing age diversity needs to be recognized by today’s public education system. Currently, too many retired Americans can’t find a spot within our public school system to serve as mentors, tutors, or other support volunteers. Too many schools today are closed to the outside, preventing retired talent from helping our young people get smarter and stronger. In the “100 Years to Thrive” world, schools need to be open and inviting places where older Americans can volunteer their talents without feeling like intruders.
Not only will there be older Americans to access in terms of talent, but there will also be more coaches, mentors, and tutors in overall numbers since we all are living longer. It will be up to our public school system to figure out, not only how to use the talented 65-year-old, but also how to best use all this extra human resource for the betterment of our young people’s learning.
With all of us living longer, traditional schools will need to reconsider mandatory start times for our youngest children, reconsider grade promotion and retention, and reconsider graduations occurring when someone reaches age 18. Since all of us will have more time to live, it will now be possible for learners and their families to decide the best time to start formal learning, when it is time to move to another learning objective, and when is the right time to transition to other learning institutions.
With all of us living longer, we will need to embrace life-long learning. Even though many districts today try to convince us that they are producing life-long learners, most districts don’t have a clue what it takes to create and support life-long learners. If you are emphasizing high stakes standardized testing, then you probably aren’t supporting life-long learning. In this new “100 Year” world, life-long learning will need to be supported by learning plans for all, learning coaches to support these learning plans, and institutions that support both the young learner and their adult learning coaches.
Wellness knowledge and skills will become even more important as a part of an individual’s learning plan. Physical education classes won’t be good enough any longer. Learners young and old will demand wellness learning plans to support their health and wellbeing, since everyone will now live in the “100 Year” world.
With increased age diversity, our public education system will receive even more pressure to finally eliminate the opportunity and achievement gaps crippling today’s black, brown, and poor kids. It’s unfair to be behind academically as a kid because of the color of your skin or your family’s annual income. It’s arguably immoral and unethical to experience that all your life, while watching an ever-increasing number of kids life yourself and families like yours suffer for the same reasons.
With all of us living longer, we will need to introduce a new type of flexibility to what and how we all learn moving forward. The “100 Year” world won’t tolerate August to May school, and an 8 AM to 3 PM school day. The new age diversity world will demand a learning system that will adapt to each age’s needs when it comes to the “what” and the “how” of learning.
With all of us living longer, we will need to adjust our national learning outcomes from content and knowledge to more of a skill-based approach. Reading, writing, and problem-solving will need to be applied to a problem-based nation focused on, as the Stanford report states: “Making investments to advance human potential, especially for Americans who have been held back by racism or poverty, creating conditions for a healthier, more productive, and economically competitive population, reengineering U.S. infrastructure in preparation for longer human lives, with built environments that are more walkable and provide access to mass transit, healthcare, and opportunities for lifelong learning, and that foster intergenerational connections, and investing to help communities adapt and protect their residents from the increasingly severe effects of climate change.”
Can the current American public education system do all of this? I’m skeptical. How about you?
The current system is struggling to keep up with its current demands, which seem far lighter than what has been outlined in this column as our new expectations moving forward. It seems like the new “100 Year” world is going to need a new system of learning, one that is designed to deliver results for everything this article addressed and even more.
The “100 Year” world is upon us. It’s time to create a learning system that will meet its needs.
Til tomorrow. SVB
A Better Path to Learning 
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