Post-ISTE Thoughts

Been thinking about what I think.

And what I keep thinking is this: for all the talking about "science", "technology", "engineering", and "math" (and now, "art" -- which I guess is supposed to make us feel better about standardizing education), we are missing out on a chance to reach kids and engage with them on the issues that really matter: life, death, love, compassion, creativity, truth.

I realize that there are many teachers who will say that they integrate all of these together in their teaching. And that is wonderful.

But it's not enough.

It's not enough to be a teacher of math or a teacher of history; we need to liberate ourselves from 1,500 years of disciplinarian categorization and move into a view of education as the preparation of the self in the matters of living.

Science, technology, engineering, math, and yes even art -- though wonderful and necessary in and of themselves -- are only tools, lenses really through which to measure, process, and evaluate the world.

We need to go beyond that.

I don't know what the "beyond that" looks like. I don't have the answers. But I do think that if we want to stay alive as a species on this planet, we're going to have to do a lot more than create new technologies. We're going to have to learn to love one another.

And that should be the only standard.

Thank you to all of the folks who helped me out at ISTE, from @SenorG who set me up with great hospitality to the ISTE volunteers and folks who were kind and happy to chat and give directions to a guy like me who is perpetually lost.

Thank you.