Once again my AP Language and Composition class is making it on to the blog…I wish I could accurately describe my love for this class, but it simply can’t be done. Anyway, below is an essay for that class regarding the same articles of which I spoke about in this blog. Enjoy and please feel free to leave responses or additional opinions!
The Benefits of Abundance
A few hours ago, I spoke with my parents about an ACT preparatory class that I need to sign up for. There are many options, ranging from $599 – $3700…all so the piece of paper in the mailbox will have a higher number on it…so I can get into a school that will eventually just cost even more money. You see though, I have been preparing for this test all my life – from Kindergarten until the moment before I take the test. Education is conformed to meet this standardized test in order to help colleges choose which students are suitable for attendance at their institution. One number simply quantifies your value to them. This test determines the curriculum for schools, because aforementioned, it is all just a long, drawn out prep class for this exam. The exam questions and school curriculum are determined by the conception of economic utility. People have determined the qualities in which one should have in order to be useful in an economic sense. Everyone is groomed to be someone that has an occupation relevant to society and the economy as a whole. Accountants, doctors, lawyers, and engineers would all be at the top of anyone’s list when asked what a “good job” is. Our brain has two metaphorical hemispheres, and educators cater to the left brain focusing on analytic and academic skills because these are skills needed to get that “good job.” These two hemispheres work as muscles, one strengthening with practice while, inevitably, the other weakens. But that is okay because left brain work is better for the economy – or so we think.
So, hypothetically, I take this ridiculously expensive prep class after already taking the longest prep class of all, and I get the piece of paper in the mail with a 30 on it. This means that I can get into some fairly highly selective schools. I go to college, graduate with an MBA, and go off and try to find a job. Here lays the problem. Up until this point, the conceptual idea of education prioritizing economic utility has worked just fine. Many classes made me fall asleep, but I made it through with a good GPA and managed to get into college, which is the ideal path for many Americans. Now I have the dream job, and I’m relatively happy doing something I somewhat enjoy and am pretty average at. A year goes by and the company announces its downsizing and will be laying some people off. I end up being the first person to get let go.
This is becoming a reality for many workers of all ages and calibers. In a world of economic globalization, outsourcing, automation, and downsizing, new skills are arising that not only get you the job, but make sure you keep it. Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, puts it best when saying, “In a world in which more and more average work can be done by a computer, robot or talented foreigner faster, cheaper “and just as well,” vanilla does not cut it anymore. It’s all about what chocolate sauce, whipped cream and cherry you can put on top.” Op-Ed columnist Thomas Friedman calls the chocolate sauce, whipped cream and cherries “untouchabilities.” Additional qualities are needed in order to stay prevalent in the workforce – to make you untouchable. These qualities are derived from the metaphorical right brain – the location of creativity, imagination, innovation, empathy, compassion, problem solving and design abilities. For many years, the so called “non-academic” crowd has been viewed as useless and less than. Education is fully centered on the left brain, always exposing a hierarchy of math, science, and English, followed by humanities and lastly, by the arts. Students with right brain nature slowly lose the strength of that muscle due to our educational system. But this isn’t a case where a few kids are left behind because they were born more in their right mind – this is how most kids are. In a study cited by Sir Ken Robinson in his TED talk, 98% of Kindergartners are at what is considered genius level at divergent thinking, which is completely right brain driven. This particular test was a simple question of “How many ways can you think of to use a paper clip?” These same kids were continually tested and got significantly worse every passing year of schooling. By the time they graduated college, only 2% were considered genius level. Those Kindergarteners were as untouchable as it gets, yet schooling, the entity that was supposed to have enriched them, actually diminished their abilities.
The necessity for these new qualities seems to have been caused by outsourcing, automation and the state of the economy, but it is really much more than that. “Those who are waiting for this recession to end so someone can again hand them work could have a long wait,” said Friedman. The introduction of entities such as outsourcing and our ability to automate simple tasks has a source truly responsible for it all, and that is abundance. Abundance is everywhere, and it has opened the door for a new generation – a new hemisphere of our minds – to thrive. No more are the days when men are out in the field, growing food for the family, while women stay in and sew the clothes and teach the children. Abundance comes from the fact that, at some point, our daily lives became secure enough to invent products outside the realm of necessity and into the realm of want. This is where the “keys to the kingdom” changed dramatically. All of a sudden, you had to be able to convince people that they “needed” something they didn’t even know existed 10 minutes prior. You also must create a product in a way that makes it unique when compared to the hundreds of other similar products. On top of you needing to be untouchable, you also must be able to make whatever product you represent or create untouchable as well. Apple, and Steve Jobs, are the epitome of this concept. There are many mp3 players out there, but then there is the iPod. It is almost a category of its own. Why though? How did it get so popular so fast? The short answer is that it is a piece of art. An utter masterpiece, from the inner workings to the outer wrappings, it is simply beautiful. I think it is safe to call iPods untouchable, and it is untouchable because of the aesthetic. And aesthetic, of course, is all right brain thinking.
Time is something that we are taking advantage of more and more frequently and it allots us the ability to use, what Pink calls, the new 6 senses. He often refers to these new senses as the “benefits of abundance.” They include:
Design – moving beyond function to engage the senses
Story – Narrative added to products and services – not just an argument
Symphony- Adding invention and big picture thinking
Empathy- Going beyond logic and engaging emotion and intuition
Play- Bringing humor and lightheartedness to business and products
Meaning- the purpose is the journey, give meaning to life from inside (Pink)
Pink believes that these so called senses became relevant because of our “culture of abundance.” A benefit of abundance is the ability to move past just keeping your product alive to actually making it beautiful and stand out from the crowd. Many companies such as Google and Zappos are incorporating play into the work place with roller blades as transport, basketball courts for break time, and an over all happy-go-lucky work environment. Empathy is being used in many more commercials nowadays, as well as story. We have all seen that ASPCA commercial that makes you want to cry, right? Simply story and empathy being put into play. It also seems we have moved from the technological age into a more conceptual age, one where we are given the chance to wonder why we are here and strive to live a life with meaning. Lacking in these new senses could equate to lacking a job, especially for students who have been prepared for the workforce using outdated priorities.
As Sir Ken Robinson put it “education does not need to be reformed, it needs to be transformed,” but exactly how to do that can be a tough question to ask. It seems that the educational system has molded itself to meet the requirements of standardized testing, and in that fashion it would seem that if we first changed the content of the standardized tests that educational systems would soon follow. Colleges, universities, and trade schools also need to rely less on the ACT and SAT. Interviews, recommendations, and essays should be of greater importance because they represent more of who you really are versus bubbles on a scantron. Another universal change that needs to be made is the hierarchy of subjects. The arts are instrumental to this new conceptual age, and we need to begin treating art as if it is as important as current core subject such as math and science. When choosing classes, there needs to be more encouragement and acceptance of artistic choices. There also need to be more artistic choices available as core classes and not add ons. Many students are discouraged from taking chorus, drama, speech, and improv because it is an after school or add on activity that often results in the loss of a lunch period. It also seems that when entering higher-level sciences and mathematics, kids should be able to opt out if they do not feel passionate about them. It does seem that sometimes interests form due to the fact that they were forced to take the class, but it seems rare and avoidable by some sort of system to identify students that seem to truly know what they want to do with their lives versus students still searching. The current mandate of having four years of high school English is appropriate based on it being an essential part of all occupations and future endeavors. Also, right brain thinking can be greatly aided with exposure to literature.
Change is always hard, but it is inevitable and utterly necessary in the case of education. The world is changing and in order to give the next generation the best possible tools for success, something has to change. The time has come for students to be valued for the content of their character instead of the quantity of their scores. In this new age, we must honor the benefits of our abundance and begin giving our youth the greatest gifts of all: untouchabilities.
365lifephotography 