Tom Friedman’s May 21st opinion piece in the New York Times really roughed me up as well. Let me explain. Scott McLeod also posted a very interesting question that day: So what if schools don’t prepare kids for the 21st century? The discussion that followed was rich and insightful. I’ve been chewing on both pieces for over a week now. Friedman writes about the huge transfer of wealth underway to the “petro-authoritarian states”. The implications are chilling. He ends with a quote from David Rothkopf, author of Superclass: ”“Call it the triple deficit. A fiscal deficit that will soon have us choosing between rationed health care, sufficient education, adequate infrastructure and traditional levels of defense spending, a trade deficit that has us borrowing from our rivals to the point of real vulnerability, and a geopolitical deficit that is a legacy of Iraq, which may result in hesitancy to take strong stands where we must.”

I think these two posts are inextricably intertwined. Learning in this society needs to be first class for ALL students. There needs to be many kinds of “schools”—not the one model we have now. It’s all hands on deck—we need all the talent and creativity we can find to face the reality of the swiftly and fundamentally changing world. But it is way easier to drift along thinking we’re the best, the strongest, the richest and that’s the way it’s intended to be. Wake up and don’t go back to sleep!

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. 

                                                                                    Don’t go back to sleep. 

You must ask for what you really want. 

                                                                                    Don’t go back to sleep. 

People are going back and forth across the doorsill 

                                                                                    where the two worlds touch. 

The door is round and open. 

                                                   Don’t go back to sleep

  — Jelaluddin Rumi