Nerd Review: Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization & Gen BuY: How Tweens, Teens, and Twenty-Somethings have revolutionized Retail

If I don’t harp on student engagement—then I am harping on technology and globalization, which are actually very related.


Two books have been recently released that deal with this—One is Yong Zhao’s book on what is actually ‘right’ with our education system and how we are determined to screw it up (Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization). Those of you who are no fans of standardized testing will be very rewarded! The other is Gen BuY: How Tweens and Twenty-somethings are Revolutionizing Retail by Kit Yarrow and Jane O’Donnell.

In Zhao’s book, a retired teacher describes his own high school daughter’s engagement in school—straight A’s, respectful, never gets into trouble—HATES school—bored out of her mind. “Schools can no longer ignore the importance of digital competencies or what our children are already doing in the virtual world, with or (/and mostly) without the involvement of educators” (pg. 195). In an issue first addressed by Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century), Yarrow, O’Donnell, and Zhao, are quick to point out—a lot of the knowledge that we want to share as well as the way we share it—has no interest or relevance to the students that we teach either now or for their future.

So why these two books? Learning in general what makes our students tick as researched by Yarrow and O’Donnell, can help us understand how our students think, react, and engage. While Zhao’s book brings insight into how the concepts of globalization, the virtual world, and the ‘death of distance’ are transforming the economic and social landscape of our world. Both provide critical insight into how to create those ‘authentic performance tasks’ that will add relevance and engagement to our students.

Did you know that they are trying to bring Internet 2 to Darien through Grey’s Reef and Sapelo Island? Do you even know what Internet 2 is or how it can impact your class?  Our students are not impressed with our Power Points, but they may be able to impress as well as teach us something if we give them the opportunity.

It really doesn’t matter whether or not you change how you use technology in your home—however, we are doing our students a disservice if we limit their opportunities and create barriers they will have to overcome outside of where we live.