Promoting NCLmB (No Child Left in my Basement) to support the Black Collar Class

Earlier in the year I had the privilege of attending a lecture (which you can hear at this link) at the City Club of Cleveland featuring Yong Zhao (@YongZhaoED) in which he addressed Education in the Age of Smart Machines.  In the lecture he talks about the “side-effects” of policies such as NCLB (No Child Left Behind) or RttT (Race to the Top) where “these policies might raise test scores, but may cause students to hate reading ” as a side-effect. He eludes to these reforms as causing more damage than solutions and jokingly suggests the need for a new policy titled “No Child Left in my Basement” (NCLmB) which promotes entrepreneurship and innovation in schools.  The title is humorous, but the point is serious.

In a blog post titled “The Rise of the Useless Class” historian Yuval Noah Harari (@harari_yuval) eludes to a not so distant future in which many jobs will be replaced by Artificial Intelligence (AI) creating a “useless class” of citizens.  It is interesting to note that teaching is one of those jobs that Harari proposes will have a low probability of being replaced by AI in the next 20 years, but the article does make me think of two points:

1. I wonder how long it will be for teaching to be replaced if we don’t change how we teach?
2. What can we, as educators, do today  for those students who will be going into blue-collar and white-collar jobs that are targeted to be replaced by AI?

I came across one potential answer to  my second question when reading “Counting What Counts” written by Zhao and others including  Ross C. Anderson who referred to the “creative class” or “black-collar worker” (inspired from Steve Jobs' black turtleneck) as the group that will, “even in the hardest hit fields, have the skills, education and human capital that (will) allow them to switch jobs, fields, and careers when required , (which is) an option that is largely unavailable to blue-collar workers.”.  In my mind, we educators need to promote environments that nurture our students ability to join the “black-collar” class.

In order to join this class, we have to evolve from our factory model of schooling that promotes the compliance associated with blue-collar workers to one that both engages and even empowers students leading them to have the opportunity to join the black-collar class.  George Couros (@gcouros) address this evolution in “The Innovator’s Mindset”.  Couros points out, “to truly be empowered, people need both ownership and autonomy”.  I believe this is true for both students and teachers, so instructional leaders (school administrators) must promote and support environments in the school that will lead to empowerment.  Couros suggests eight things to look for in the classroom which will promote empowerment:

1. Voice-  to empower students to speak up and use their voices effectively
2. Choice- providing choice allows students to build on strengths and interest
3. Time for Reflection- Dewey’s quote “We do not learn from experience we learn from reflection on experience” comes to mind here
4. Opportunities for Innovation-  this refers to on-going opportunities to pursue innovative ideas across the content areas in school
5. Critical Thinkers-  students need to be able to develop the ability to ask questions and empowered to challenge ideas
6. Problem Solvers/Finders- put students in situations to find problems and give them a sense of purpose in solving something authentic
7. Self-Assessment-  students assessing their own work provides another opportunity for reflection; portfolios work great here
8. Connected Learning-  students who understand where to look to, who to reach out to, and how to get info driven to them when solving a problem will be prepared for an environment beyond the classroom

I am a parent of four children myself, so I am a big fan of “No Child Left in my Basement”, but as an educator I also feel the responsibility to promote and support the growth of the black-collar class.  In my mind, the change from compliance to engagement and ultimately empowerment must be supported by administrators, promoted by the teachers, and demanded by both students and parents if we want to see NCLmB become reality.