Hot, Flat and Crowded

Thomas Friedman's follow-up to the World is Flat is another thoughtful look at our current condition and our future. Of course what interested me the most were the sections on education. Particularly the efforts of many parts of the planet to not only catch-up but to move ahead. Our current k-12 educational model is remarkably similar to what we did over 100 years ago. The hard part is figuring out how to teach more curriculum in the same amount of time. What I keep coming back to as an educator and a citizen is trying to figure out how to have more time. I think the most damaging thing we do to our students in the current system is give students 11 weeks off every summer! It is not as if they are helping on the farm or the ranch! What is even more damaging is when we think about students that are behind their peers in reading, writing and math.

I don't know what the answer is, but I do know solutions must be globally designed including the federal and state governments, mayors, local communities etc. It is not a problem that can be solved by one local school district.

It is an interesting book, if you have not read The World is lat, this is a great place to start as we think about the future.