Part of the challenge of teaching older kids at home is staying digitally literate. At our house we joke about Planet 8-Track (where I was born and raised) and Planet iPod, a culural illustration from Earl Creps’ book Off-Road Disciplines. My kids are from Planet iPod. I try to keep up with what happens on Planet iPod. It is not easy but I’m responsible for their learning.

So, how do parents or for that matter classroom teachers from Planet 8-Track teach their iPod kids? Our culture and thus the labor market is hungry for digitally wired people. Our economy loves digital innovation. How do we make sure our kids are competitive in that market? Many thanks to mrmoses for pointing out these two videos that spotlight these issues.

The first, made a few years ago, by college students presents their frustrations with what we would call normal, traditional education methods that were good enough for us in years gone by. Keep in mind that these are successful students attending highly regarded colleges. Here’s Digital Students @ Analog Schools:

[youtube k-KAb5fomKY]

So, if even good students are becoming frustrated how does that inform us about the almost 40% of students who do not graduate from high school? If a business experienced such a drastic loss of customers they would quickly realize that equally drastic product improvement is required to recover and grow again. Yet the response of public school districts is changes in policies such as raising the mandatory age of attendance. Isn’t this the equivalent of locking customers in and making them consume the same product that would if given the choice flee? And it’s a free product! Changing the product does not seem to be often discussed. This next video, Pay Attention, points out how the traditional public education product contrasts with the real world and culture where our kids live and will work.

[youtube yaXzLcUkZ5A]

It seems that the issue returns to individualized learning not a one-size fits all system.

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