Full Speed Ahead

1
Full Speed Ahead

A former administrator used to say “if school was a business we would all be bankrupt because we are so slow to change.”

A bold statement that carries validity.

In this rapidly changing world, the rate of change right now – as you read this – is the slowest it will ever be. This holds true now, tomorrow, next week, next month and so on.

2020 looks to be a pivotal year in human existence. For the first time in human history, we will have more devices connected to the internet than people. A projected 50 billion devices shared among the 7.75 billion people here. Well, at least we hope for equal sharing, but I’ll save that for another post. This year will see more vehicles connected to the internet than not.

For the first time.

Change. Real change is happening.

The Amazon algorithm can tell me what my wife wants for Christmas better than she can, just based on her browsing history. As we look towards the big data era, we must teach our young people to be mindful – and to code.




With 50 billion devices connected to the internet, everything we do – all of our behaviours – will be tracked, analyzed, mined, marketed and sold. Amazon wants to know what we are up to. So does Google.

I’m not writing this too scare you. I am writing this to inform you. Those concerned with privacy will be disadvantaged by the next decade. How you choose to respond to these devices will be game-changing and life altering.

But what will this look like in schools? There will be no room for “off and away” or “cellphone bans” when everything is connected. It is just simply not possible. And teaching kids to code will help them better understand how these devices work. If coding isn’t a life skill today, I don’t know what is.

If you are like me, you always look for opportunity to trey new things. If you aren’t, I encourage you to start. In a world that changes overnight, the only strategy guaranteed to fail is not trying something new.

Last March I went for my first Nascar ride. It was ridiculously terrifying going at such a high rate of speed. But I did it. Scared as hell. But I did it.

And so can you. What is your Nascar ride? Why haven’t you done it yet?

Go. Now. Full speed ahead.

(Visited 340 times, 1 visits today)

One Response for this post

  1. Kevin
    Kevin
    | |

    I agree with your comments 100%. I find that some of my collegues are more scared then I am

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Name
Name*
Email
Email *
Website
Website