Reading the Farnham Street blog today…on the Half Life of Facts by Samuel Arbesman:

“I think that we need to move from an educational system that is focused on memorizing facts to one that is focused on how to learn. Of course you need a fundamental background and familiarity with certain information in order to have a basic understanding of the world, so I wouldn’t throw out memorization entirely. But so much of what we know is going to change and we need to have an educational system that recognizes this.”

The class that entered Kindergarten in September 2012 will graduate 12th grade in 2025. Our education system, more or less, is still oriented towards the early 1900’s. Of course, we’ve replace black boards with smart boards…but our educational conversation, at least in the political sphere, is largely concentrated on measuring how well the kids do in tests. There is still a lot to do to move our education system to a forward looking engagement with the 21st century.