Technolandy

Day 3 (of SOL 2025) Summer of Learning… Dear Dr Kennedy @chrkennedy

In his annual year end blog, Chris had some good questions… here is question 

3: How do we measure success in ways that actually matter to all students, not just those who fit traditional molds?

(I moved this initial ending to the start as I think it sums up my worries for how and why we measure for success in education) ….and less job certainty – even Bill Gates (on Tonight Show) commented that AI is making it so that humans won’t be needed for most things in the next decade… how is our current schooling preparing students for that? I continue to ponder which jobs are authentically ‘safe’ from AI + robotic infrastructure – which is why I chuckle when politicians go on about bringing back more manufacturing and resource focused jobs… somehow thinking that people will be hired for anything more than installing the robotic workforce… and as for humans in most careers (including education and health) I can see quickly becoming a ‘value added upcharge service’… or a boutique shoppe mindset… 

I love the discussions going on around education “success” and what it means – particularly what it means to individuals. Full disclosure, I have a student who won “high score” in the game of school (why else would there be a governed generals award if scores don’t matter, dad?); an adult dogwood recipient – more on “the educated citizen” in a moment; and a kid in a big name fine arts school – so my microcosm crosses all boundaries for how each kid defined “s-u-c-c-e-s-s”. 

Philosophically I love the “educated citizen” descriptor within bc education. Written originally  in the late 1980s by educators like my dad – in a time where general knowledge was key and valued as they were building what was called the “Year 2000 Program” – a bit ahead of its time and readiness of schools and society. 40 years later, things – especially understanding of neurodiversity have… changed. I still love our dogwood diploma criteria. Strong believer in it… just not for everyone. My youngest really didn’t care for the sciences and has limited recall of what she actually learned (she knows she did because she has weird info that comes out). My oldest broke my heart when she finished her last humanities course – pressed her forehead and said “I’m purging it dad – won’t need it in engineering!”  My middle boy has ridiculous knowledge, but more thanks to YouTube than any class/lesson – and didn’t want to waste his time getting the 20 classes he would need. It didn’t help that he was uninvited from school because he paced the halls more than he was in a room… but the adult dogwood gave him an exit strategy: language arts new media 12, history of math 11, physical health education 12, Career Life Connections 12, and – oops, he doesn’t remember what the 5th one was either…🤣

I love that they are all able to see themselves as K-12 successes! But I know some look at the adult dogwood with negative light as apparently some have advertised it as an “easier” graduation pathway. As a parent, there was nothing easy about convincing my son that graduation (and the school system that once said it wasn’t right for him) was a good pathway. Unlike Frost, he’d rather take the path not ever taken… (sorry – metaphor drop!)

And I am aware that there has been a view of the adult dogwood being part of a culture of low expectations (and a racist part as well which infuriates me) but I see it as a neurodiverse pathway to success when the 20 courses seems beyond achievable. Because while the adult dogwood requires 5 courses (3 of which have to be taken after you’ve turned 18… which would not have been an option for me as I graduated at 17) that number is a minimum – and we even had a chat with a student who was stuck, and a mere two courses away from the full dogwood about the AD if they were just “done”. I didn’t like that idea, but I’ve had to move away from “my wishes” when it comes to other peoples stories and definitions of success.  They have opted to focus on completing the two courses – which are started and again, is always Plan A, but I just have to remember that there are 25 letters available, and subsets for each of those. 

The ghost of my father and other educators of the generation that brought forth the concept of BCs Educated Citizen might be rolling in their graves, but I don’t think so – I rationalize that they thought then, and would agree now, that the evolution of an educated citizen needs to continue to ebb and flow and evolve and what was designed nearly 50 years ago might also be personalized – especially as we see less avenues for ‘traditional molds’ to follow… 

….and less job certainty – even Bill Gates (on Tonight Show) commented that AI is making it so that humans won’t be needed for most things in the next decade… how is our current schooling preparing students for that? I continue to ponder which jobs are authentically ‘safe’ from AI + robotic infrastructure – which is why I chuckle when politicians go on about bringing back more manufacturing and resource focused jobs… somehow thinking that people will be hired for anything more than installing the robotic workforce…  https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/technology/no-doctors-no-chefs-bill-gates-lists-the-only-3-jobs-ai-likely-won-t-replace-at-least-for-now/ar-AA1HTJg0?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=41dddff918324a568ed11de5b9a2460c&ei=31

What jobs are we preparing students for? We can’t pretend that hasn’t been a mission statement for many schools – the first ones were established so that the government would pay for basic skills rather than companies and churches… but I know many of us (yep, me too) would talk about careers based on courses students were excelling in (even had a teacher say that I should consider accounting – which made me and my family laugh – Accounting 11 excellence was a blip not a passion) – and also a career that is soon for AI/robotics… so do we shift the ‘success at school’ away from what students need to learn to be ready for work life? Do we start to discontinue trades and technicals that are going to be replaced sooner than others (in my building, I can see hairdressing remain a human industry – but I wonder even about welding… right now it is easier and cheaper to get a human to get to certain sites… but for how much longer – and for how much risk? How much of these will be more ‘niche’ careers and side gigs? There will always be a desire for hand made cabinetry, but most of us will buy the pre designed/manufactured cheaper option from eStoreX. So maybe we focus on measuring success based on authentic learning and being ready for an adaptable future that is going to look very different than the world did even 5 years ago let alone a generation ago… even though many classrooms look the same as multiple generations ago… maybe we look at success as students being happy and enjoying what they’re learning because they ‘get to’ rather than ‘have to’ <— a mantra I repeat often at our Provincial Online Learning School. Success is being as curious (or more) about the world after grade 12 as you were when you started kindergarten.