Consider the image of a gate in the camera viewfinder. The gate is heavily padlocked and is attached to concrete pillars on either side. There is a notice posted to inform visitors of the hours and conditions for entrance. Now imagine that you retreat a few steps and look again through the viewfinder to see that the gate ends at the pillars and open space extends beyond them. No fence or wall extends on either side of the gate posts. If you lower the camera you will see individuals wandering in and out of the fields beyond, quite unimpeded. There is, after all, a difference between a gated field and a fenced field…
This is the field of the world-wide-web and the Internet. The gates, for there are many of them, are the agents and agencies that once controlled the portals to the fields. People lined up with their documents and their tuition, with their credentials, in the hope of receiving permission to gain knowledge and skills and access to trades and vocations. People also lined up to gain the opportunity to share their knowledge and wisdom and artistic creations. The gate-keepers had wonderful power because of their ability to sort and select among the applicants…
Now that the fences have been removed, individuals can link up with each other without passing through the controlled portals. They can share their words and their works. They can teach and learn, contribute and access in any fields they wish to visit. Their interest and their talents are all they require.
Hello! Ministries of Education! You are no longer the keepers of the keys. You will need to demonstrate that you have something else to offer, something of value beyond knowledge itself. Now education really will have to support the advancement of lifelong skills in higher level thinking, and advance skills of writing and manipulating information. It will need to embrace collaboration rather than competition. Students will want to be involved in real-life investigations and the creation of authentic products. Thirty years ago these ideas were in the forefront of the gifted education movement. Now they’re here knocking at all the classroom doors. We need to open up to the digital age and accept that it’s not the wolf.
Note: Read Cathy Davidson’s Now You See It if this is a concept you want to explore.
