And So It Is Written
I was recently reflecting on when I had last written anything. No, I don’t mean “written” as in composed, printed or published, I mean written as in putting pen to paper.
I think I did scribble a couple of lines on a scrap of paper when I last went shopping, although it probably would have been faster to have used a voice app on my phone. No, apart from a scribble here or there, I haven’t written anything for years – and I can’t even type properly.
But, over the last 10 years, the hard disk on my computer and my various cloud-based repositories will testify to the fact that I’ve written thousands and thousands of pages of text. Some has gone out in the form of SMS’s from my phone, some in an almost endless pile of emails and most in the form of word documents and pdf’s. I just don’t write anymore. Do you?
There’s also an ever diminishing likelihood that I’ll ever write again. I’ve never really mastered dictating to my computer or phone and I’ve no desire to overhear others doing so. The keyboard seems to still be the way to go, although I can’t help thinking there must be something AI can think up that will ultimately provide a better solution than hunting and pecking QWERTY style.
But I digress. My primary interest in this column is with education and specifically 21st Century school education. Now that’s a place where writing is still hanging in there with a vengeance. Ah Yes, in the institutions charged with preparing our children for the future, the past holds on tenaciously. You can still get a pen licence at school just like I did almost 60 years ago. And you can still be assessed using pen and paper on the vast majority of occasions.
Yes, the last bastion of how we almost never communicate our understanding is in the place designed to grow our understanding and broaden our capacity to communicate it.
Does anyone reading this seriously argue that in 30 years time kids with be sitting written examinations using a pen and paper? Even today, kids rarely write anything that matters (other than tests and exams) with a pen, and why would they? Who would want to give up the brainstorming and editing functionality our electronics provide? If a picture tells a thousand tales, why would I want to write them longhand?
But, here we are – still designing education in the rear view mirror. Yes, we are doing some on-line experimenting, but not with the energy or sense of urgency needed. In fact, the desire to report imperfections and failures rather than successes or worthy attempts continues to dominate debate.
Our brains despise ambiguity, so we eschew the uncertainty of educating children for a post writing world and we keep on preparing them for a world they’ll never encounter. Ah well, I guess we’ll just write on……until we can’t.
Noel Thomas