President Biden awards National Medal of Arts to Alex Katz
Alex Katz has been awarded the 2023 National Medal of Arts. Katz received the award from President Joseph Biden in a private ceremony at the White House.
For a good Canadian analogy- The National Medal of Arts is to art what the President’s Trophy is to NHL hockey teams- it is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the American federal government. It is awarded by the President of the United States to individuals or groups who are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support, and availability of the arts in the United States.
Red Hat (Renee), 2013
Oil on linen
84 x 60 inches
213.4 x 152.4 cm
Past recipients of the National Medal of Arts include Mark Bradford, Ken Burns, Spike Lee, Steven Spielberg, Carrie Mae Weems, and Ruth Asawa.
Alex Katz (American, b.1927) is one of the most recognized and widely-exhibited artists of his generation.
Coming of age between Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, Katz began exhibiting his work in 1954, and since that time he has produced a celebrated body of work that includes paintings, drawings, sculpture, and prints. His earliest work took inspiration from various aspects of mid-century American culture and society, including television, film, and advertising, and over the past five and a half decades he has established himself as a preeminent painter of modern life, whose distinctive portraits and lyrical landscapes bear a flattened surface and consistent economy of line. Utilizing characteristically wide brushstrokes, large swathes of color, and refined compositions, Katz created what art historian Robert Storr called “a new and distinctive type of realism in American art which combines aspects of both abstraction and representation.”
Tracy, 2008 Oil on linen 48 x 66 inches 121.92 x 167.6 cm
Since the 1950s, Alex Katz’s work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions and nearly 500 group exhibitions around the world.
Katz early student work included a series of drawings made on his subway commute from Queen’s to his downtown art classes. These drawings were later painted and have been acclaimed as being proto proto pop art.
His work can be found in nearly 100 public collections worldwide, including the Art Institute of Chicago; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Tate Gallery, London; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among many others. This story courtesy of friends at the Richard Gray Gallery.
All of modern life is a spectacle. Much of what contemporary man experiences in Western society is a false social construct mediated by images.
These mediated images create desires that can never be fulfilled; they create false needs that can never be met. “Many of our daily decisions are governed by motivations over which we have no control and of which we are quite unaware” (Berger 41). The constant spector of the mediated image creates an endless cycle of desire, consumption, and disinterest, fueling a banality in life that feeds the commodification of life.
Increasingly life itself becomes a commodity and the image more important than the reality it represents. This commodification infiltrates every aspect of human production, including the arts, and finds its pinnacle expression in the work of Damien Hirst. Hirst has carefully crafted a brand identity that has far surpassed the value of his art work in importance and worth. Working in tandem with former advertising executive turned art dealer Charles Saatchi, the spectacle of the Hirst image becomes the commodity. “Reality unfolds in a new generality as a pseudo-world apart, solely as an object of contemplation. The tendency towards the specialization of images-of-the-world finds its highest expression in the world of the autonomous image, where deceit deceives itself” (Debord 143).
No longer is the work of art itself a commodity, but rather the image of the artist (his/her/cis brand) that becomes the commodity.
It is this spectacle that drives the consumer to identify with a particular artist or brand. “The astronomical growth in the wealth and cultural influence of multi-national corporations over the last fifteen years can arguably be traced back to a single, seemingly innocuous idea developed by management theorists in the mid-1980s: that successful corporations must primarily produce brands, as opposed to products” (Klein 4). The image has increasingly infiltrated and dominated the culture and the whole of society and has become “an immense accumulation of spectacles” (Debord 142).
Butterfly by Damien Hirst
Where once the products of labor were the commodity, now it is the spectacle that has become the commodity.
A prime example of this spectacle is Damien Hirst’s sculpture, “For the Love of God.” The sculpture consists of a platinum skull covered with 8,601 diamonds. The sculpture valued at over $100 million usd/ $129.361,000 cad [exchange rate at time of publication] is clearly out of the reach of almost any collector. The sculpture itself is not the art product, rather it is the spectacle that is the product. “Mr. Hirst is a shining symbol of our times, a man who perhaps more than any artist since Andy Warhol has used marketing to turn his fertile imagination into an extraordinary business” (Riding, nytimes.com). Acknowledging that the sculpture is out of reach for the majority of collectors, Hirst offered screen prints costing $2000 usd/ $2,587 cad to $20,000 usd/ $25,870 cad ; the most expensive prints were sold with a sprinkling of diamond dust.
Karl Marx argued that the value of the commodity arose from its relationship with other commodities; its ability to be exchanged for other commodities. Marx used the the production of a table to illustrate his thesis: “…by his activity, man changes the materials of nature in such a way as to make them useful to him. The form of wood, for instance, is altered if a table is made out of it. Nevertheless the table continues to be wood, an ordinary, sensuous thing. But as soon as it emerges as a commodity, it changes into a thing which transcends sensuousness.” (Marx 122)
Hirst’s diamond encrusted skull remains mere diamonds, valuable yes, but still diamonds. However, when coupled with the spectacle of Damien Hirst’s identity, the skull becomes a fetishized commodity capable of selling screen-prints valued in the thousands. The argument can be made that diamonds on their own carry value, and could be commodities themselves, however that doesn’t account for the fact the Hirst was able to sell prints of the skull for over $2000 usd/ $2,587 cad. Nor do the diamonds alone account for the spectacle surrounding the art work; it is Hirst’s brand, his image that creates the spectacle.
“The mystical character of the commodity does not therefore arise from its use-value. Just as little does it proceed from the nature of the determinants of value” (Marx 123). The value of a commodity arises from its spectacle, its ability to be desired. In Marx’s day that desire was its ability to be traded for other commodities; today that value is derived from its association to a brand, an identity, a spectacle. “Art reflects the illusory way in which society sees itself, it reflects the bourgeoisie’s aesthetic ideas as if they were universal” (Osborne 79).
The spectacle feeds itself through the mediating of the image to create desire for status and recognition, through associations.
“The ends are nothing and development is all – though the only thing into which the spectacle plans to develop is itself” (Debord 144). The spectacle’s main objective is self perpetuation. Its aim is totality. It must be noted that Hirst himself did not even create the work of art, but rather employed a studio full of jewelers to execute the sculpture, and printers to produce the prints.
Hirst exemplifies the bourgeoisie capitalist employer who retains ownership over the fruit of the employees’ labor. He is in many ways more akin to a captain of industry than he is to the romantic notion of an artist. “In the early twenties, the legendary adman Bruce Barton turned General Motors into a metaphor for the American family, something personal, warm and human” (Klein 7). Hirst has also turned himself into a metaphor, however, metaphors aren’t always true. This falsehod is at the heart of the issue. The spectacle isn’t concerned with what is true, rather it is concerned with what can be made to appear true. It is this appearance of truth that makes a commodity valuable. This fetishism of the commodity is why gold and silver have value, it is because people gave them value. It is the reason Damien Hirst, or any other brand, has value, because people gave it value.
Damien Hirst cannot be blamed for commodifying art, he is simply following a long tradition of turning objects and products into commodities. The fact that his commodity is his own image doesn’t seem to matter. “Hirst is just playing the game. It is a game played by collectors and dealers at art fairs throughout the year; it is a game finessed as never before by Sotheby’s and Christie’s; it is a game in which, in the words of Nick Cohen, a rare British journalist to trash Mr. Hirst’s publicity coup, ‘the price tag is the art’ ” (Riding .nytimes.com).
That final statement beautifully summarizes the commodification of art, ‘the price tag is the art.’ The fact that the art is obscenely priced, and out of the reach for the majority of collectors, the fact that it is made of diamonds, a precious stone known as the blood stone because of its association with brutal and oppressive regimes, merely adds to its allure, to its spectacle. Damien Hirst is merely playing the game, like many before him. He is a part of the growing culture industry that sells image. Images are the new commodity fetish. Images are the new mysterious commodities exchanged for more the more durable and enduring commodities. The bourgiousie sell their images, which have no real value, to the public which consumes them, in exchange for goods of real value.
“The $200 billion usd/ $270 billion cad culture industry – now North America’s biggest export – needs an every-changing, uninterrupted supply of street styles, edgy music videos and rainbows of colors. And the radical critics of the media clamoring to be ‘represented’ in the early nineties virtually handed over their colorful identities to the brand masters to be shrink-wrapped.” (Klein 115)
Nick Cohen said of Hirst, “[he] isn’t criticizing the excess, not even ironically … but rolling in it and loving it. The sooner he goes out of fashion, the better.” What Cohen fails to realize is that the spectacle is a fashion. And when one image goes out of fashion, another takes its place. Hirst may indeed go out of fashion, but another art brand will take his place, perpetuating the commodification of the arts in increasingly bombastic ways.
Perhaps art has always been a commodity?
In the past patrons would hire artists to paint them into scenes from the gospels. Patrons could be seen on the outskirts of paintings piously praying, thus creating an image of themselves as good and pious Christians. By association with the sacred art, the patron was creating a mediated image. Rulers did this all the time. The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius is a perfect example. Its a mediating image that communicates power and authority.
But none of these examples reach the level of spectacle and fetishism that is Damien Hirst. While art may have been a commodity in the past, it was never commodified. In other words, while the art itself may have been exchanged for other goods, the artist himself was not treated as a commodity. The art of the past may have served a purpose, it may have contained a mediated message, but it was still a product, and it was the product that was valued, not its brand identity.
The commodification of art creates a unique problem in history. If it is the spectacle that matters, and the artist’s identity that has value, then what value is left in the art itself?
What then separates art from ordinary objects? Is there any aesthetic emotion that remains in the work of art itself, or does the aesthetic emotion dwell completely within the spectacle? These are questions that cannot easily be answered, and ultimately will require the lens of history to answer completely. But they are a pressing concern, for when art is commodified, it may cease to be art and instead become celebrity, product, or worse, advertising. For the Silo, Vasilios Avramidis
Works Cited Berger, Arthur Asa. Seeing is Believing: An Introduction to Visual Communication. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008. Print. Debor, Guy. “Showing Seeing: A Critique of Visual Culture.” The Visual Culture Reader. Ed.Nicholas Mirzoeff. New York, NY: Routelage, 1998. 142-144. Print. Klein, Naomi. No Logo, No Space, No Choice, No Jobs. New York, NY: Picador, 2000. Print. Marx, Karl. “Showing Seeing: A Critique of Visual Culture.” The Visual Culture Reader. Ed.Nicholas Mirzoeff. New York, NY: Routelage, 1998. 122-123. Print. Riding, Alan. Alas, Poor Art Market: ‘A Multimillion Dollar Headcase.’ The New York Times. June 2007, Damien Hirst and the Commodification of Art http://www.visual-studies.com/interviews/moxey.htm
There you have it… from Dr. Peter Vincent Pry himself, director of the EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security… An electromagnetic pulse (EMP for short) would literally send an entire country back in the 1800’s in a matter of seconds, by frying everyone’s electronics and leaving us in the dark.
Here’s Ben Carson explaining EMPs…
Mainstream media has been silent about this for the last decade. And now folks are finally starting to see the truth…I believe an electromagnetic pulse is imminent and I want to show you how to make this cheap set-up that can shield any device against an EMP.
Let me give you a few shocking stats and facts that have scared the daylights out of some top US politicians.
Wired Magazine said there was a 12% chance the Sun would blast a Coronal Mass Ejection (or CME) at 300 miles per second towards Earth by 20201.
Now as far as we know 😉 that didn’t happen. But it seems mathematically certain to happen in the very near future.
A Space Weather study quoted by Gizmodo2 estimates it would cost the US $41.5bn / day, and it would take months if not years for the power grid to be replaced and for things to get back to some sort of normal.
Given that it produces an average of 3 CMEs EVERY SINGLE DAY3, the Sun is nothing but a ticking time bomb waiting to “explode”, destroy the grid and any device that’s plugged in, and ultimately paralyze society…
Then you’ve got nations such as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, playing with high-altitude HEMP bombs, which can be even MORE devastating, because they can even fry electronics that are not connected to the grid, such as phones and flashlights.
In fact, Russia sold such devices to North Korea in 2014 4 5 and here’s why:
If you’re still skeptical about N. Korea’s abilities, keep in mind that they now have two satellites orbiting the Earth at low altitude, the KMS-3 launched in 2012 and the KMS-4 launched in 2016.6
…and guess what? They both hover over the United States7!
And let’s not forget ISIS, who’ve been planning grid attacks for a long time, are extremely self-motivated.
So what happens if any of these scenarios come true? Total collapse.
The large power transformers (that are keeping the power grid alive) will be completely fried, turning entire countries into a veritable electronics graveyard. Trucks will come to a screeching halt, and will stop delivering food, water, and medicine to stores across the nation.
People will be hungry and scared, turning against their fellow men in desperate attempts to feed their families. Looting will be the new national sport, and disease the new biggest killer… That’s when the real “fun” starts…
Law enforcement will be paralyzed and unable to communicate to keep things under control. And what will you eat when all of this happens?
EMP rehearsals
I like to call blackouts “EMP rehearsals”… because they too can leave entire cities in the dark for days or even weeks on end, and scare millions of people…Like this woman, for instance… who got trapped in an elevator during a blackout. If that were an EMP, she’d most likely experience a deadly free fall:
The aging US power grid is hit every FOUR DAYS on average by either a cyber or a physical ATTACK9… 225,000 Ukrainian households were left in the dark in 2015, after the power grid was hacked10.
The number of power outages doubles every 5 years11, mostly because of our increased energy needs, but also due to storms, earthquakes, tornadoes and even heat waves. And what will happen when millions of electric cars owners will plug their vehicles into the grid every night, all at once, and let them charge over night for 8 or 9 hours?
Look no further than 3rd world countries such as India to see what that would look like. In 2002, 700 MILLION souls were left in the dark… It was horrible… According to The Guardian13, “electric crematoriums stopped operating, some with bodies left half burnt before wood was brought in to stoke the furnaces”…
In 2014, the entire country of Yemen was left without power for an entire week after al-Qaeda attacked it14. It wasn’t the first time, either…
Still, it’s hard to imagine what happens when an electromagnetic tsunami completely fries the aging power grid, phones, laptops, medical equipment such as pacemakers, fridges (keeping anything from food to insulin cold), and even some cars. The cost of replacing everything is unimaginable. Plus, even if your car does survive, remember gas pumps also run on electricity…
So what can you do to protect your electronics? All you need is this one weird box you can make at home called a “Faraday cage”, with simple materials lying around in your kitchen or garage right now that, if done right, will guarantee that all the electronics inside will survive.
“If done right” is key here, because there’s a lot of confusion on making them… Many folks are convinced that things like cars and microwaves will work, but they’re completely wrong.
I cringe every time I hear this, because I know that if the shield is not fully enclosed, the electromagnetic pulse will go right through and fry everything inside… Many Faraday cages have holes in them14 and are useless in front of a powerful EMP. What you need is a fully-enclosed shield.
There’s a simple 30 second test you can do right now, to see for yourself. Place your phone and a portable radio inside a microwave, trashcan, or anything else you think would work as a shield. Turn both devices on, and make sure your radio is tuned in to an AM station.
Now try calling your phone. Is it ringing? What about your radio, are you getting anything? If the answer to any of these questions is “yes”, then that is not a Faraday shield and it will fail you.
Why does the test work? Because EMP pulses hit on a very wide frequency range that those used by cell phones and radios.
Now, to make a real Faraday cage, there are two simple rules you need to follow…
Rule #1: the gadgets inside should not touch the outer metal casing…
And rule #2, the metal container must not have any holes or cracks in it, no matter how small.
A box full of working gadgets won’t cover your basic survival needs, so it’s critical that you get over your addiction to electricity. Just like a drug, you’re dependent on it because it makes everything so much easier… And when it’s gone, when you can’t use your phone or laptop, you feel totally helpless.
You gotta learn to live without it, because most people won’t…
Modern life made everyone soft, people can’t even change a tire these days. They can’t fix their house, cook on an open fire or grow their own food, heck, most can’t even change a tire…
The other thing we need to talk about is generating your own electricity post-EMP with parts kept safe inside these Faraday cages. You’ll then be able to run electric tools and appliances such as chainsaws, pressure cookers and washing machines. This is actually something you can do today to slash your electric bill…
To recap, the 3 layers of EMP preparedness are:
Layer #1: Faraday shields
Layer #2: living without electricity
and Layer #3: free energy…
Don’t worry, though, because we’ve already done all the hard work for you. Me and my amazing prepper writers at Survival Sullivan have once again outdone ourselves and came up with hands-down the best course for surviving blackouts and EMPs anyone ever made:
*This product is digital. The image is for information purposes.
We call it: “EMP Protocol”
…and I’m excited to give you a taste of what’s inside:
● Step-by-step videos and pictures on how to make these 3 Faraday boxes types that will protect your devices against even the strongest EMP. You don’t have to pay $30,000 for a copper chamber, or even $30 for Faraday cages advertised on various websites. We’ll show you how to make them for less than $5usd each… You get the exact materials for every type of box, plus step-by-step instructions. Plus, one of these types of cages is small and light enough to fit in your bug out bag…
● What to do the moment an EMP happens. Whether you live in the city or on a farm, whether you’re bugging in or out, we’ll tell you how to move fast, stay safe and protect yourself and your family.
● The 3 best ways to safely generate electricity post-collapse. Just keep the spare parts in Faraday shields, and you’ll have light for years to come.
● 12 electronics you need to salvage in Faraday cages. Yes, flashlights and emergency radios are on the list, but if you truly want to be prepared for a long-term disaster, you definitely need the others.
● How to hide the fact that you have electricity… If someone sees light in your window, or if your kid is playing outside with a flashlight, they’ll instantly know you have it. These stealth tactics are what you need to make sure no neighbor or even the law enforcement will take your devices.
● How to prepare your vehicle for an EMP. Plus, a list of cars models that are sure to survive it.
● How to make bug out bags, get home bags and everyday carry kits for you and your family, that work not just in EMPs, but in any kind of emergency. We’re going deep down the rabbit hole, covering every possible aspect, making sure all the items inside are protected against shocks, water, puncturing by sharp objects, and even theft.
● How to bug out on foot. If your car won’t work, you’ll have no choice but to leave it behind. The roads could be dangerous, but fear not because we’ll tell you how to get to your bug out location safely and in record time.
● Last but not least, we’re going to have a conversation about how to survive without electricity in the long hard years following an EMP event. Nothing is left out, including food and water procurement, hygiene and sanitation, alternative communication methods, and even things that are often overlooked such as home schooling
We really went out of our way to weed out the bad information about EMPs. Best of all, these things will help you survive and thrive in almost any other disaster or emergency, such as social unrest, hurricanes and an economic collapse. Click here to receive your EMP Survival guide. For the Silo, Dan F. Sullivan.
“Pay attention students, write this down for memorization.” The Trivium and Quadrivium, medieval revival of classical Greek education theories, defined the seven liberal arts necessary as preparation for entering higher education: grammar, logic, rhetoric, astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, and music. Even today, the education disciplines identified since Greek times are still reflected in many education systems. Numerous disciplines and branches have since emerged, ranging from history to computer science…
Now comes the Information Age, bringing with it Big Data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence as well as visualization techniques that facilitate the learning of knowledge.
All this technology dramatically increased the amount of knowledge we could access and the speed at which we could generate answers to our questions.
“New and more innovative knowledge maps are now needed to help us navigate the complexities of our expanding landscape of knowledge,” says Charles Fadel. Fadel is the founder of the Center for Curriculum Redesign, which has been producing new knowledge maps that redesign knowledge standards from the ground up. “Understanding the interrelatedness of knowledge areas will help to uncover a logical and effective progression for learning that achieves deep understanding.”
Joining us inThe Global Search for Educationto talk about what students should learn in the age of AI is Charles Fadel, author ofFour-Dimensional Education: The Competencies Learners Need to Succeed.
“We need to identify the Essential Content and Core Concepts for each discipline – that’s what the curation effort must achieve so as to leave time and space for deepening the disciplines’ understanding and developing competencies.” — Charles Fadel
Charles, today students have the ability to look up anything. Technology that enables them to do this is also improving all the time. If I want to solve a math problem, I use my calculator, and if I want to write a report on the global effects of climate change, I pull out my mobile. How much of the data kids are being forced to memorize in school is now a waste of time?
The Greeks bemoaned the invention of the alphabet because people did not have to memorize the Iliad anymore. Anthropologists tell us that memorization is far more trained in populations that are illiterate or do not have access to books. So needing to memorize even less in an age of Search is a natural evolution.
However, there are also valid reasons for why somecarefully curatedcontent will always be necessary. Firstly, Automaticity. It would be implausible for anyone to constantly look up words or simple multiplications – it just takes too long and breaks the thought process, very inefficiently. Secondly, Learning Progressions. A number of disciplines need a gradual progression towards expertise, and again, one cannot constantly look things up, this would be completely unworkable. Finally, Competencies (Skills, Character, Meta-Learning). Those cannot be developed in thin air as they need a base of (modernized, curated) knowledge to leverage.
Sometimes people will say “Google knows everything” and it is striking, but the reality is that for now, Googlestoreseverything. Of course, with AI, what is emerging now is the ability toanalyzea large number of specific problems and make predictions, so eventually, Google and similar companies will know a lot more than humans can about themselves!
Closeup of mobile phone with language learning application in jeans pocket. focus on screen
“What we need to test for is Transfer – the ability to use something we have learned in a completely different context. This has always been the goal of an Education, but now algorithms will allow us to focus on that goal even more, by ‘flipping the curriculum’.” — Charles Fadel
If Child A has memorized the data in her head while Child B has to look up the answers, some might argue that Child A is smarter than Child B. I would argue that AI has leveled the playing field for Child A and Child B, particularly if Child B is digitally literate, creative and passionate about learning. What are your thoughts?
First, let’s not conflate memory with intelligence, which games like Jeopardy implicitly do. The fact that Child A memorized data does not mean they are “smarter” than Child B, even though memory implies a modicum of intelligence. Second, even Child B will need some level of content knowledge to be creative, etc. Again, this is not developed in thin air, per the conversation above.
So it is a false dichotomy to talk about KnowledgeorCompetencies (Skills/Character/Meta-learning), it has to be Knowledge (modernized, curated) and Competencies. We’d want children to both Know and Do, with creativity and curiosity.
Lastly, we need to identify the Essential Content and Core Concepts for each discipline – that’s what the curation effort must achieve so as to leave time and space for deepening the disciplines’ understandinganddeveloping competencies.
Given the impact of AI today and the advancements we expect by this time next year, when should school districts introduce open laptop examinations to allow students equal access to information and place emphasis on their thinkingskills?
The question has more to do with Search algorithms than with AI, but regardless, real-life is open-book, and so should exams be alike. And yes, this will force students to actually understand their materials, provided the tests do more than multiple-choice trivialities, which by the way we find even at college levels for the sake of ease of grading.
What we need to test for is Transfer – the ability to use something we have learned in a completely different context. This has always been the goal of an Education, but now algorithms (search, AI) will allow us to focus on that goal even more, by “flipping the curriculum”.
Today, if a learner wants to do a deep dive into any specific subject, AI search allows her to do this outside of classroom time. What do you say to a history teacher who argues there’s no need to revise subject content in his classroom?
For all disciplines, not just History, we must strike the careful balance between “just-in-time, in context” vs “just-in-case”. Context matters to anchor the learning: in other words, real-world projects give immediaterelevancefor the learning, which helps it to be absorbed. And yet projects can also be time-inefficient, so a healthy balance of didactic methods like lectures are still necessary.McKinseyhas recently shown that today that ratio is about 25% projects, which should grow a bit more over time as education systems embed them better, with better teacher training.
Second, it should be perfectly fine for any student to do deep dives as they see fit, but again in balance: there are other competencies needed to becoming a more complete individual, and if one is ahead of the curve in a specific topic, it is of course very tempting to follow one’s passion. And at the same time, it is important to make sure that other competencies get developed too. So, balance and a discriminating mind matter.
Employers consider ethics, leadership, resilience, curiosity,mindfulness and courage as being of “very high” importance to preparing students for the workplace. How does your curriculum satisfy employers’ demands today and in the years ahead?
These Character qualities are essential foremployersand life needs alike, and they have converged away from the false dichotomy of “employability or psycho-social needs.” A modern curriculum ensures that these qualities are developeddeliberately, systematically, comprehensively, and demonstrably. This is achieved by matrixing them with the Knowledge dimension, meaning teaching Resilience via Mathematics, Mindfulness via History, etc. Employers have a mixed view and success as to how to assess these qualities, so it is a bit unfair that they would demand specificity they do not have. And it is also unfitting of school systems to lose relevance.
people, education, technology and exam concept – close up of students with smartphones taking picture of books page and making cheat sheet in school library
“Educators have been tone-deaf to the needs of employers and society to educate broad and deep individuals, not merely ones that may go to college. The anchoring of this problem comes from university entrance requirements.” — Charles Fadel
There is a significant gap between employers’ view of the preparation levels of students and the views of students and educators. The problem likely exists partly because of incorrect assumptions on both sides, but there are also valid deficiencies. What specific inadequacies are behind this gap? What system or process can be devised to resolve this issue?
On one side, employers are expecting too much and shirking their responsibility to bring up the level of their employees, expecting them to graduate 100% “ready to work” and having to spend nothing more than job-specific training at best. On the other side, educators have been tone-deaf to the needs of employers and society to educate broad and deep individuals, not merely ones that may go to college.
The anchoring of this problem comes from university entrance requirements (in the US, AP classes, etc.) and their associated assessments (SAT/ACT scores). They have for decades back-biased what is taught in schools, in a very self-serving manner – narrowly as a test of whether a student will succeed at university. It is time to deconstruct the requirements to broaden/deepen them to serve multiple stakeholders. For the Silo, C.M. Rubin.
Join me and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Michael Block (U.S.), Dr. Leon Botstein (U.S.), Professor Clay Christensen (U.S.), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (U.S.), Dr. MadhavChavan (India), Charles Fadel (U.S.), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (U.S.), Professor Andy Hargreaves (U.S.), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Jean Hendrickson (U.S.), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Honourable Jeff Johnson (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Dr. EijaKauppinen (Finland), State Secretary TapioKosunen (Finland), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Lord Ken Macdonald (UK), Professor Geoff Masters (Australia), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Shiv Nadar (India), Professor R. Natarajan (India), Dr. Pak Tee Ng (Singapore), Dr. Denise Pope (US), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Dr. Diane Ravitch (U.S.), Richard Wilson Riley (U.S.), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Professor Manabu Sato (Japan), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. Anthony Seldon (UK), Dr. David Shaffer (U.S.), Dr. Kirsten Sivesind (Norway), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (U.S.), Yves Theze (LyceeFrancais U.S.), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (U.S.), Sir David Watson (UK), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Dr. Mark Wormald (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.
C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three bestselling books, includingThe Real Alice in Wonderland, is the publisher ofCMRubinWorldand is a Disruptor Foundation Fellow.
It can be hard to choose the right exercise regime for you. On top of the time constraints of modern life, the sheer number of options is enough to confuse most of us.
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On December 4, the New York Times ran an article about how Facebook just introduced a new app called Messenger Kids. According to Facebook, this app makes it easier for kids to safely video chat and message family and friends. Per their privacy policy, the app collects registration details from parents such as a child’s full name. It also collects the texts, audio and videos children send, as well as information about whom the child interacts with on the service, what features they use and how long the children use them. In launching this new app, Facebook has ignited a fierce debate about how young is too young for children to use mobile apps and how do parents deal with the creep of technology into family life.
One mother has stepped into the debate with an alternative. Janice Taylor created a website and application called Mazu, which teaches children and families how to use digital media responsibly and become positive digital citizens. She cautions parents and says they need to ask themselves, “do you trust Facebook as a medium to protect your children?”
Bing search engine results for “Facebook messenger kids”
“Facebook’s only goal is to monetize a new user base and beat SnapChat at it. Children should never be used as ammunition in the Social Media war for dominance.” Taylor explains.
Based on the concept that “It takes a village to raise a child,” Taylor takes the position that every adult has a role to play in the well-being of the child and society. Taylor created Mazu to build a healthy digital village for families that is founded in love and core values. “Traditional social media preys on our desires to be liked, to be validated, and to be rewarded. That’s why the ‘Like’ button is so addicting and why we at Mazu don’t have one.”
Since its inception in 2010, Mazu, with over 250,000 users and growing, has evolved and now, through partnerships with professional sports teams, has brought the ‘it takes a village’ mentality online. With a suite of family friendly apps, Mazu connects kids to their family, friends, and teams/ brands they love in a way that is safe, healthy and fun. To date they have raised more than $6 million from non-Silicon Valley companies.
A recent Reuters Facebook post about Facebook Messenger Kids
“We believe that parents matter in the digital lives of their children, that’s why our COPPA-certified apps are created with parents in mind. We believe in the power of family and staying connected,” says Taylor. “By building our products around a set of values and using the community to build each other up, we believe we can create better digital citizens.”
Janice Taylor is a social entrepreneur, mother, inspirational speaker, author, and online safety advocate. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with an Honors thesis that focused on self-esteem and self-efficacy among women. It was from this research that she sought to create a solution to the issue of social media addiction and how it was affecting women, children, and families. For the Silo, Trina Kaye. Have something to say about this article? Leave us a video comment by clicking record below or use the comment section at the bottom of this page to type us a response.
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