As I write this I imagine that every other educator and business owner that read this post by Google was also madly typing away, raving about how Google is SO right. Alas, I’ll just be part of the group. Thanks to Robert Talbert for tweeting about the post, as I have to admit that I don’t actually read the Google blog every single day. Nope, I don’t, at least I’m honest about it!
What did Google say? Well,
“At the highest level, we are looking for non-routine problem-solving skills. We expect applicants to be able to solve routine problems as a matter of course. After all, that’s what most education is concerned with. But the non-routine problems offer the opportunity to create competitive advantage, and solving those problems requires creative thought and tenacity.”
The specific skills Google is looking for in their Googley employees? Hmmm, these look familiar.…….
analytical reasoning
communication skills
a willingness to experiment
team players
passion and leadership
Now, where on the standardized tests do these fit in? Anyone? ANYONE have an answer? Nope, because they’re not there. As Rosenburg says, “It’s easy to educate for the routine, and hard to educate for the novel.”
Rather than quoting the entire rest of the post and saying uh huh, yup, he’s right, over and over - go read the full Google post - it. is. perfect.
And let me just say that in the umpteen jobs I’ve had since my first at age 13, I have never ONCE been 100% prepared for every task I was presented with. NEVER. How’d I manage to survive? I learned something new at every single job I did. Yes, I have a rather lengthy list of employers, but that just gave me more experiences and things to learn.
Wax a school floor? I’m your woman.
Save a drowning child? Here I am!
Sell overpriced items to crabby people? Been there, done that.
Work on an assembly line? Experienced racker, yes I am.
Teach adults? Children? Check. Check.
Need some accounting done? I could - kind of bored with that now.
And the list goes on…….and on……….
Just imagine my final employer when I’m about 80 - they will get a ROCK STAR with all the learning I’ve been doing.
Wait, one more thing:
Speaking of jobs and learning and new stuff, you HAVE to check out Jessica’s story of getting her dream job through Twitter (as told to Kelby Carr). Welcome to my world, Jessica Smith - I’ve gotten every single one of my hodgepodge of freelance gigs I’m doing right now directly or indirectly through Twitter…………
And the people still scoff, ha.
Edited to add: Well, who knew? Jessica has a site called Chief Mom Officer - LOVE the name, check out the site, lots to learn about the CMO’s of the world!
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Ok I am gonna play devils advocate since you brought up standardized testing.
I am a father of a 6th grader and a 3rd grader.
OK I know the ripples this is gonna cause but I am seriously looking for a civilized discussion.
Heres goes….
Teachers have to be held accountable, they are humans and just like all humans some of them will take advantage of any situation. If we punted standardized testing (which I am in favor of punting)what do we do to insure some form of consistency in education that children in the public system are receiving.
Cut loose!!!
Codytalkss last blog post..Sheila Lisman - one of the great ones.
Wow it linked to my last blog which is about one of my greatest teachers, coincidence… I think not.
Codytalkss last blog post..Sheila Lisman - one of the great ones.
This was an interesting read. I would like them to teach daily living skills in high school and get kids ready for the real world. My kids learn more at their summer camp in six weeks than the whole school year.
good post
Bonnie Sayers (autismfamily)s last blog post..Books On Feelings for Kids with Autism
@Codytalks On the teacher accountability issue… I think we have to do a better job of preparing, hiring and leading teachers. The trouble with trying to implement accountability into teaching is that accountability systems must measure results of productivity. How can you honestly measure productivity results of an effort that might actually take years to take root and have an effect. Sure, you ought to be able to see some immediate results, but I’m convinced that some of the work I do doesn’t play itself out until after my classes end.
You just wrote about one of your greatest teachers, but I’ll wager you didn’t know just how great she was until long after she finished her work with you.
If we train and employ professionals, what is wrong with expecting that they will do the job and do it well? The accountability should come through good strong leadership within the school system. (But then what makes those leaders accountable and ensures that they do their job well?)
I am a big fan of peer review of teaching. I don’t think it happens a lot, but it is a great way to see what you are doing well and what you can improve upon. Inviting a colleague into your class to watch you work is a bit intimidating at first, but it’s actually not too bad if it is approached as a tool for growth rather than as a performance review. But there are plenty of factors in play that work against this concept.
But I agree that teaching to a standardized test is not the way to go. It doesn’t even really provide true accountability since that kind of learning isn’t what people need to succeed.
What google describes is what all innovative companies say they want. But I guarantee if you have those qualities and just send in a resume, it won’t go anywhere. I think, more important than trying to teach the skills/qualities outlined by Google, we need to teach “personal marketing” somehow. The VP pronounces the company wants a certain type of person…but they can pick and choose among applicants who have already been filtered. It’s not enough to have the qualities…you need to know how to get in front of the VP. I would go even farther and say what he outlines as what they are looking for…are the MINIMUM expectations for any employee hired in this industry. What makes people stand out is how they market and brand themselves.
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Bill, (and Kate)
First off I hope you can tell, I am not a fan of standardized testing. I think things need to change… I really do feel like it’s similar to the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in college football. Everyone except for literally the people who came up with the current system (whether it be the BCS or Standardized testing) knows the current system sucks and is not the best choice. But… No one has offered an across the board satisfactory alternative. So we stick with the status quo. Now I have this fear all you educators are gonna be mad I compared Education to deciding a College Football National Champion, they are not on the same level of importance, just in similar situations, breath in your nose and don’t be mad at Cody.
So my own response to what I have written above is… “Why does it have to ba an across the board solution?” “Why can’t each individual district or school develop a solution of accountability that is best for them?” And in a weird multiple personality way… I answer myself. “IT CAN”T” It has to be a across the board solution because people will fall back on being lazy. Not all of them, some. We have to have some sort of a Nation wide policy to guarantee the quality of education. Please note again… I don’t think standardized testing is it!!!
Bill, In a point by point response.
Making better teachers is exactly the first step in my mind. I don’t know what the steps are to do that though. Let me know when you figure it out I will stand beside you and fight for it.
I agree with you that we can’t measure it in immediate results. But that can just as easily be SPUN by a lazy teacher/principal/superintendent/district to completely release themselves of all accountability.
I get your point on not recognizing the greatest of a teacher immediately, with a few teachers it took me a while. Ms Lisman happened to one that even as a 17 yo kid I thought “Damn she really loves teaching and is good at it” (she would be pissed at all my typos and grammatical errors in this comment). :)
Great point about if we train the right people the right way… Except it’s a pipe dream. You have tens of thousands of teachers. We used to do it that way. Everybody just relied on the one room school house to do its job and get everyone educated. What happened? The one room school houses whose parents had the most money got the best teachers and our education system had to be revamped and somewhat standardized. (The system not the testing)
Peer review - the absolute best way to do it - at Disney World. In the real world workplace… Worst possible option… Friendships and egos and all around human nature will prevent this from being an effective tool.
Kate… Sorry for making this a standardized testing thing but I got passionate about it. I see my little girl cramming for a week for a assessment and think, “She is brilliant, but this whole week is a waste of quality learning time” but… I have no solution and that bothers me just as much.
Codytalkss last blog post..Wondering if people can "SELL" their candidate without even mentioning the other???
Ok, here goes my post-length response!
First, I’d just like to say that Rosenberg EMAILED me after I wrote this, which was just the coolest way ever to start my morning. Yes, I realize that it took him all of 5 min to get the alert about my post and then email me (or more cynical people might think it wasn’t even HIM emailing me), but you know what? It made me feel good and the email was really personal. Cool stuff.
Now, Cody, here’s your much-awaited response…..I can’t give you an easy answer, I really can’t. I simply haven’t been on this earth long enough or been in top levels of administration to be able to find the answer that no one else in the country has been able to implement. I will tell you this, though - teachers WANT to do a good job and WILL do a good job if given the resources. As you know as a father, watching your child cramming for a test that means NOTHING is miserable and isn’t good for anyone - teachers, students, or our society.
From my short time in the classroom, I’ll tell you the things that DO matter:
1) passionate teachers
2) sufficient resources
3) involved families
4) quality administration
The question is, who defines passionate or quality or sufficient? You’re right, it’s different everywhere you go. As a teacher, I am passionate when I know that I can make a difference, simple as that.
I feel like I’m NOT doing a good job of explaining my feelings/thoughts on this, so let’s pick a time, meet at a bar, and really hash this out :-) We’ll get this system turned around in NOT time!
Dave -
You are SO right about this! And here’s the solution to not being able to get in the door: the hiring process needs to be completely re-worked - resumes portray almost nothing. I’m LOVING the hiring that’s being done these days through LinkedIn, Twitter, blogging, etc - this is truly the future. I’m almost at the point where I wouldn’t be all that excited about applying for a job that requires a resume submission! Personal marketing is definitely a skill, we just have to make sure that people have the skills to market first.
Kate,
You did a great job of wording it… I agree.
Maybe we need to clone you and Sheila Lisman and a few other great ones and just get it done that way.
I hate problems that don’t have solutions, I am a black and white guy thats smart enough to realize its a gray world but i don’t like it.
Sidenote: Have you seen the Pickens PLan for energy. ( http://www.pickensplan.com ) We need someone with T. Boone’s money to develop an education plan.
Codytalkss last blog post..Wondering if people can "SELL" their candidate without even mentioning the other???
I think the role of standardized testing in the kinds of skills Google is looking for becomes a little clearer if we stipulate that the “Google” skills are developed through a COLLEGE education, and the basic nuts-and-bolts skills are developed through K-12 education. Whether we believe this stipulation is valid is another question, but let me explain for a bit.
In my view (as a college prof), the role of *higher* education is to develop the kinds of creative, analytical reasoning skills by having students bring their basic skills to bear on open-ended, important problems in various fields. The role of K-12 education is to make sure that every child has absolute fluency in basic skills, such as skill with arithmetic and algebra, competency in writing and language, and so on. I am no fan of standardized testing but one thing you can say about such tests is that they are, IMO, assessing the right things for the level at which they are given. That is, they assess writing skill, skill with basic math, and language. This is that K-12 is supposed to focus on, and the best K-12 schools embrace this focus and make it a point of pride that their graduates take that basic learning and go on to do great things — *after* their college education.
The problem is that the K-12 world seems to want to skip all this boring basic skill stuff and go straight to producing high school graduates who have the “Google” skills once they enter college. That’s a noble goal, but it’s not the proper role of the typical K-12 system, and moreover it doesn’t work if kids are not fundamentally sound on basic skills. As a result, we here in college are constantly having to shore up basic skills while at the same time teaching “Googley” skills, and it’s a train wreck. The high schools are trying to do what colleges are supposed to do, and so the colleges end up doing what the high schools were supposed to do; and since colleges are not designed to teach basic skills and K-12 schools are not designed to teach advanced skills, no skills at all are inculcated in anybody except the best and brightest who largely learn independently of the system anyway.
So I take pride in reading (and Twittering) that article because I can look at the department I teach in at my college and know that we do this stuff. But I would be concerned if my kids were being given tasks to develop creativity and analytical problem solving in school before they were absolutely solid in basic math and language skills first.
Robert Talberts last blog post..Wednesday lunchtime links
Robert takes the can of worms and rips the lid right off the top.
Here we go….
Incredible comment Robert, I gotta go sell and website to a college that needs to hire you and then I will be back to reply.
Codytalkss last blog post..Wondering if people can "SELL" their candidate without even mentioning the other???
Robert -
You nailed it. And here’s the quote from Rosenberg’s post I *should* have included in my post -
“The need for reasoning, though, remains constant, so we believe in taking the most challenging courses in core disciplines: math, sciences, humanities.”
This leads me to believe that the message is the same as you’re giving. And let me tell you, from subbing in MANY 4th grade math classrooms, the new way of teaching math is NOT better than the old. No way, no how.
Kate, my ping made it to your comments as I referenced this post in my blog.
My post gathers together several recent posts, including yours, that question whether we’ve got it right in K-12. The comments to your post, particularly from Robert are questioning the same.
Robert describes is as basic skills. I’ve also seen it described as domain knowledge. So is the answer in the curriculum or the pedagogy?
@Cindy: I wonder if your last question is presenting a false choice. I think a large part of what we think of as the problems with education today are cultural, having little or nothing to do with either pedagogy or curriculum.
We have a culture which trains kids for boredom. There is very little encouragement for kids to take an interest in something that takes time, patience, or hard work. We have a popular culture which shows naked disdain for being smart or liking school and makes interest in math and science close to anathema. If something isn’t sensually exciting and in constant motion, it takes tremendous effort for kids today to be interested in it.
So it’s no wonder that K-12 educators would have the most difficult time keeping their clients engaged with the “domain knowledge” stuff, because it’s not sexy, it’s not shiny, it’s not exciting a lot of the time. It takes time, effort, and patience to get that knowledge right. So the temptation for K-12 educators is to give in, and try instead to teach the sexy, shiny, exciting stuff. Often it’s done in a well-meaning way — e.g. trying to teach “Google” skills because those are, indeed, more interesting and exciting than basic domain knowledge — but the fact is that the institution of elementary and secondary education has decided collectively to shift and adapt to the popular culture which holds it in such disdain, rather than make a countercultural stand and insist that students in those grades learn the basics, solidly. We call it “adapting to the needs of 21st century learners” and never question if “21st century learning” is something that we must accept or even if it is something desirable to have around.
It’s a sad thing to watch and a downright maddening thing to have to deal with on the receiving end, as a college teacher.
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