A Whole New Mind - Part One

I didn’t get a chance to blog last week, but I enjoyed reading D. Pink book “A Whole New Mind”. The book is well written, relevant and very timely, I wish more recommended textbooks were like that.

In the first three chapters D. Pink defines the Conceptual Age and explains its causes and characteristics (Abundance, Asia, and Automation). He also gives an interesting overview of what he calls L-Directed and R-Directed way of thinking and lays a foundation needed to understand how these concepts linked together will affect the future of education. His ideas resonate very strongly with what I have seen first hand, working in the high-tech industry and seeing how it has been affected by these changes during the past decade. Similar thoughts have affected my decision to join the ITEC program, and D. Pink makes me feel good about my decision.

I have recommended this book to several people already, and I think every teacher should read it to understand the priorities of educating for the 21st Century. That said, I think the danger we are facing in the US, on the other hand, is that “core subjects” will be even more neglected in the process. We should not ignore the L-Directed skills only because Asia is already ahead on them, so no reason to even try. The salaries and the standard of living in Asia and other developing countries will continue to rise, so eventually outsourcing is not going to be the most cost effective solution for every problem. On the other hand, American children will continue to face fierce competition for the best education from their peers from abroad. So far, while I applaud the innovation of American education, I still turn to Russian tutors for math and science.

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