Techlearning blog

Yesterday, master educator, author, and Minnes-oo-ta humorist, Doug Johnson listed the many jobs he has had, after quoting the oft' cited projection...

The Department of Labor projects that people will hold on average 10.2 jobs between the ages of 18 and 38

Read Doug's Sept 9 Blue Skunk post for the reference, and to scan a bewildering array of jobs he's held -- way more than 10.2.

This probably doesn't make a lot of sense, but it looks a lot like where I spent a year working in a chainsaw factory.

For me, I

• Washed cars, delivered newspapers, made picture frames and rubber stamps, and played music in bands for date money.
• After high school, I worked in a machine shop as an operator and set-up man, drove a forklift, loaded and unloaded freight cars in Colorado, moved furniture, and played guitar in coffee shops.
• Since college, I've been a classroom teacher, packaged "Jacks cookies," sold encyclopedias (for one day -- wasn't very good at that one), directed a technology program for a rural school district, state DOE staff consultant and web master, and free-agent educator.
• As a free-agent, I've generated income as a web designer, programmer, author, teacher, and public speaker.

Like Doug, considerably more than 10.2 Jobs.

..and like Doug, I never really found that labor department projection very impressive -- even though I've thrown it into presentations every now and then. At the same time, I've thought it was a bit of a push.

In his blog, Doug down-plays the skills that he developed and that carried him through...

..they were "soft" skills - reliability, cooperation, communication, strong back, high tolerance for boredom, etc. - not really job-specific.

In my efforts to understand what the labor department's projections and my work experiences mean, within the context of school reform, I ask myself, "How did I learn..."

..to play guitar (bass & Banjo) and organ? I taught myself!

..to write software? I taught myself.

..to code web pages? I taught myself!

..to self-publish a book? I taught myself!

The schools that I attended in the 1950s and '60s tried very hard to teach me how to be taught. I believe that this is one of the shifts that we have to achieve as we try to retool classrooms. We need to do less of..

teaching kids how to be taught,

and instead,

teach them to teach themselves.

I think that the point is not that everyone is going to have 10.2 jobs between the ages of 18 and 38. Many of us will only have one job. But how many times will that one job change? 10.2 times? Perhaps not, but when it changes, who's going to teach the new skills?

We need to stop teaching literacy, and teach learning literacy.

We need to stop teaching literacy skills, and teach literacy habits.

We need to stop thinking about lifelong learning, and instead, work toward every student leaving our schools with a learning lifestyle.

We need to be willing to take every piece of furniture our of our classrooms, clear the walls, burn it all, and start all over again. The world has changed that much.

Anything less is an insult to our children.

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Image Citation:
Pilaar, Paul. "DSC00247." Pilaar39's Photostream. 11 Nov 2005. 10 Sep 2007 <http://flickr.com/photos/pleduc/62189025/>.