I just finished reading The Way We’ll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream by John Zogby of Zobgy International, a public opinion polling company. In addition to compiling lots of interesting findings about how the American dream has / is shifting, Zogby creates a pictures of the new generation of learners called the First Globals born between 1979-1990. These traits and dispositions compliment the Education 3.0 students proposed by Moravec. First Globals are:
- Highly materialistic and self-absorbed
- Caring and tolerant
- Change-oriented
- OK with high educational debt
- The most cosmopolitan age group in America
- More likely to live abroad for an extended period of time
- Does not expect job security
How is today’s educational system tapping into the rich culture and valuable assets of this generation? If our schools, curriculum, pedagogies, and structure are built on a social system, social values, and student attributes that look nothing like they do today, they are not really meeting the needs of this new generation of students. As noted in this blog “No matter how hard we try to cover up 19th century institutions, they will still be 19th century institutions.”
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