The question about the previous post picture caption below (Look, look, the robots are collaborating!) from “jonathanlearns” warranted me to write the reply as a proper post in itself.
I certainly do not denigrate neither business or government, and I have worked for both. The sarcasm you sense is directed at an outdated education system catering to 18th Century industrialism’s need for human cogs along the conveyor belts and the understanding of production as a linear endeavour, which it clearly is not. However, institutions of that size and age carry an incredible momentum, and therefore the hope is always that they can be somehow up-graded and re-painted rather than re-thought from scratch. However, there is a cut-off point – using the latest laser surgical equipment in a Victorian era hospital which hasn’t yet fitted it’s buildings with electricity is not much help.
No-one in business or government wants to see countries and economies fail nor do they want youngsters jobless and disenfranchised. However, to get these institutions to change the above mentioned systemic problems what language should we, as educators, speak?
Linear conveyor belt production of helpless worker-bees has passed beyond its sell-by date. But what politician will want to tear down the old factory and replace it with a garden whose fruit’s are outside his four-year tenure, and may not even be quantifiable in any neo-liberal sense of the word? And which businesses will support him? But then again, do parents want their kids in that Victorian era hospital?
cooperativelearning.works 