Tablet Reading: Making Digital Media A Beautiful Experience

Sometimes the aha moment comes in mysterious ways.  But this weekend, it dawned on me: I actually prefer to read on my iPad than on my computer, and probably more than a  regular book if you take my pulse count.  The reason: well curated content via a wonderfully sexy digital platform.  In fact, I use a combination of 2 platforms, which cover the range of content that I need: Flipboard & Zite.  Call it the 1-2 punch.  Each is effectively a socially curated online magazine, that allows for a seamless navigation beween previously selected topics, with sources coming from the internet and the social web.  Flipboard is more of a social magazine, while Zite labels itself an intelligent magazine.  Zite and Flipboard give a new and very real meaning to social learning.

eLearning – put the emotion into the E of eLearning

I have long been a proponent of the power of well-constructed distance learning programs, hopefully seamlessly blended into our everyday learning environments.  However, for the most part, there is a dearth in eLearning engineering expertise and there are not enough allocated resources in universities and corporations.  It remains a “luxury” in the eyes of most executives and managers to make a platform-suitable, learner-focused environment.  Too often, when eLearning is put into place, the content may be rich, but the experience is often bereft of sentiment and pleasure (i.e. text heavy) and the interaction is minimalist.  But, what if text books could be converted to be read with same intelligence, pleasure of discovery, ease of use & sharing, and rapidity of loading as you will find on Zite and Flipboard…?  And, I might add, there are others that are worth the visit too: Feedly, Pulse.  What if…  we tailored the learning on platforms similar to Zite and Flipboard?  Of course, we might also need to justify the investment in tablets for everyone, too…  But, prices will come down dizzily, I’m sure.

The “teacher” learns from you

What I particularly like about Zite (which just released version 1.3.2 on Jan 27th) is that it gets smarter as you use it.  It also has wickedly easy social sharing functionality.  Zite alone made me realize that I prefered reading and sharing via my iPad than on my computer, by a wide margin.  It is mobile and the enjoyment is multiple, since the discovery is unending.  I absolutely revere the moments when I can dig into my Zitegeist!

Here is a schema provided on Zite’s site about how it works.

If there is one cloud on the horizon, it is that Zite is owned by CNN (Zite was purchased in August 2011).  Flipboard is as yet an independent entity (though I’m sure that Apple has a beady eye on them: Flipboard was voted best app of 2010 by Apple).

Feedback please

I’d love to hear of any similarly fashioned learning platforms that are live or in the works!

Learning Organizations: New ways of managing

Learn to learn... every day

As companies grapple with the effects and opportunities of the Internet, social media and the smartphone, internal organizations are having to adapt and transform to accommodate new ways of communicating, new marketing methods and metrics and, in sum, new ways of managing.

An organization’s ability to learn and to adapt to the changing environment is fundamental for long-term sustainable success.  Constant learning means recognizing one’s errors, learning from one’s mistakes.  It also means be willing and agile enough to shift courses; all part of an optimized Learning Organization.

Creating a successful Learning for Development program

A founding piece of this learning and change can – and should — take place through the internal university or Learning for Development (LFD) programs. [I have written extensively about the notion of a Brand University.]  There are three principles that must underpin successful change through these internal universities :

1. management must not only actively support, but positively identify – even remunerate — contributing staff;
2. learning must be ongoing, with a before – during – after, whereby management’s message and style is consistent and coherent with the LFD content;
3. the style of teaching, as well as the tools and content, must model the behavior that the organization wishes to adopt.

Future of Learning

Learner focused

Today, education is about educating you. In the jargon, we call this being learner focused. Teaching cannot be about just passing along MY messages. Pedagogy and learning are in mutation, pushed by a new understanding of learning, a new generation of tools, and a new crop of students, familiar with collaborative tools and the “web 2.0” spirit.

Distance learning

Whereas teaching was once the singular domain of classrooms – as is mostly the case in offsite seminars – there is now the opportunity for accessible and effective distance learning. Learning on the job can and is happening on the road, thanks to the portability of the computer, access to the internet and the mobile phone or even the ipod. The options and formats for distance learning are multiple.

Interactivity is the lifeblood of learning

Nonetheless, distance learning is not the complete panacea. It takes time, money and a real expertise to develop – without which one is often left wondering about the applicability and effectiveness. Too often, the eLearning is rich in content because of the obsession with transmission of information, but it is bereft of interactivity, the lifeblood of learning.

Moreover, learning is not just happening in classrooms or on the desktop terminal. It is happening elsewhere, all around us. There are new tools, sources and locations. Learning is and has always been happening informally, via the conversation in the corridor, at the cafeteria or at the famed water cooler.

Moving outside the classroom

It is said that 70% to 90% of all learning happens socially and informally. The tragedy is that LFD departments continue to focus on the remaining 10% to 30%. Moreover, too often, that training remains one-way, professorial and uninviting in style.

New tools exist today that can facilitate more widestream learning without exaggerated costs or massive changes in workflow – an essential ingredient to make informal and distance learning succeed in the workplace.

Four types of learning

There are four types of learning :

• classroom
• distance learning (or eLearning)
• blended learning (a combination of classroom and distance)
• and, the last but not least, social learning. Certainly, social media can be a part of this mix, but there is of course much more to social learning.

Companies need to choose and enable the right tools – infrastructure is a strategic consideration, a veritable investment with a viable return, not just a cost. Organizations need to invest in distance learning platforms — such as Cross Knowledge or Omega TV — but also allow for webinars, podcasting, teleconferences, group work, etc. Moreover, the attractiveness of an organization, from a new employees perspective, is heightened when learning is an integral de facto experience. Critically, managers must learn to be coaches.

Constant learning

I finish with a quote from Jay Cross: “Working smarter is the key to sustainability and continuous improvement. The accelerating rate of change forces everyone in every organization to make a choice: learn while you work or become obsolete.”

Powerful words. Learning For Development should be a corporate-wide endeavor; it must reinvent itself and gain the full thrust of upper management’s support to help the organization transform, to be ready for tomorrow’s fast changing environment.

Blend your Marketing

Putting marketing into the blender

As all corners of the world are being turned upside down by the internet (“no rock unturned”), management and brand marketers are scrambling to adjust. The image that my friend, Thierry, gave me is that of a digital tsunami: Visible, forceful and unstoppable.  Brand marketers are struggling to find the right mix of on and offline initiatives and communication, to find the best and most complementary way of combining the different media.  This is what is called Blended Marketing.  It’s a moving feast with more and more options, with ever less resources.

Where are digital marketers to turn to stay one step ahead?

I tend to get my inspiration from four areas, three of which are, at their core, all about media and have been at the war front as far as tackling the digital tsunami:

• music – battling with rights, free distribution…
• news – battling with speed, sources, platforms, free distribution…
• book – dealing with new distribution, new platforms
• hi tech – the most likely to try new technologies, although not necessarily the most social (eg Google, Apple…)

I read an interesting article in USA Today (December 1, 2011) entitled, “Video games hit higher level of US education.”  In the article, Larry Johnson, CEO of a non-profit organization, New Media Consortium, said, “The key driver is the need for ways to make learning more engaging.”  Sounds a little like what brands need to do as well.  More and more universities are learning how to “push students’ buttons by meshing core concepts and fun…”  Certainly, the video (and the game associated) is a fabulous way to create engaging content.

How much soft wiring is going on?

According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study in 2010, reported that 60% of kids in the US, between 8-18 years old, play video games daily.  In November, the US Education department announced that game-based learning would be part of the new national technology plan.  Of course, there is plenty of CR*P out there and many games tend toward violence and nonsense.  But, it is possible to combine interesting, educational and fun in a serious game.   I remember fondly the creation of Hair Be 12 which we created at L’Oreal to help educate young entrants learn about the hairdresser business.  In addition to serious games, there is of course distance learning and mobile learning… Plenty of material for HR, naturally, but also for brand and digital marketing.

Video, games & learning : the new eldorado for brands

The key takeway: Brand marketers must be comfortable creating not just videos, but games, too.  This can include serious games, but also to create fun and engaging competitions (even as an application in Facebook).  Games engage and brands absolutely need to engage their customers.

How many people in your digital marketing team are familiar with video editing tools (iMovie, MovieMaker, Avid…) and the latest online games?  Is it part of your criteria when you are recruiting?

At your Service

French Service.  For some, this is an oxymoron.  Some like to say the same thing of American Intelligence.  But as far as French Intelligence is concerned and American Service, we tend to be on the right track!

Regarding French service, there has been much written about the issue of bad, snooty-nosed, unfriendly service in French’s stores, hotels and restaurants.  It is typically a Parisian problem, but Paris doesn’t have the monopoly on grumpy faced servers in France.  Where does this culturally imbued talent come from?

I believe there are three main culprits.

1. Poor incentives.  There is no incentive to do a good job in restaurants.  The French have an ironic concept called “service compris” whereby tipping is automatically included on the restaurant bill no matter the level of service provided,  Service compris means two things in French: the tip (‘service’) is included and the service is understood.  Clearly, it is more a case of service mal-compris.  One might say that this is just one industry, but it is an industry that has a far ranging reach — and is particularly visible to the tourist.  At the other end of the scale, tipping is not customary when the tips are not automatically included.  French tourists don’t naturally whip out a dollar bill (five?) for a kind service rendered.  About the only time I see tips being handed out in France is in a hairdressing salon where the opportunity to slip a few euros into the dashing stylist’s pocket seems a good trade-off for the bo-bo (bored bourgeoise) lady.  Adding 15% to a taxi fare seems out of the question for the common Frenchman. Speaking of taxis, of course, the Parisian taxi driver is another great example of poor service.  The situation is tipically resolved in that you hardly ever WANT to give a pourboire to a French taxi driver.  (I have written many articles, en français, about the taxi situation in Paris).  Notwithstanding the obnoxious attitude, the extra change “to drink” for a driver seems a little out of place, no?

The notion of smiling as a welcoming greeting is a foreign concept.  And great service — as generally recognized internationally — is just not on the radar for French management.  The frown is de rigueur.  Being at someone else’s beck and call is beneath most French people.  You would think it is akin to being a slave.  Regardless of the financial incentive, it is culturally, an undesired trait.  On the plus side, where the French sometimes have an edge is the area of discretion.  Service in a distinguished luxury hotel should be invisibly impeccable and refined.  In this, there may be grounds to develop a specific and successful French notion of service.  As my suave friend Kevin says, sometimes you need to deserve the concierge’s good guidance.  So, why is this the case?

2. Education.  The French educational system privileges knowledge accumulation; and, the more rational the subject matter, the more noble the endeavour.   Competence and know-how are the focus of the national education system.  [Ask a concierge the history of the building and he/she could very well expound lyrically.]  The FNAC is a classic example of knowledge as a service gone wrong.  The FNAC employees are supposedly picked for their passion and knowledge in a category.  Then again, they need to want to share that knowledge to the ignorant customer.  Teamwork and positive attitude are, at best, an after thought in the French education system.  Great service, on the other hand, involves empathy, humour and, above all, attitude.

Grumpy - a nationa passtime

3. The French consumer.  In a re-interpretation of the egg or the chicken debate, I think it takes two to tango.  If I were a salesperson at a retail store in Paris and were confronted day in and day out by the grumpy, frowning French customer, constantly looking down on me as if I were a sub-citizen, it is possible that I might also give up the mantle (read pretense) of good service.  It is highly possible that the customer (who went through the same high school system) has trained the salesperson in his/her image.

Culturally, the French are brought up with a critical mindset.  Critical thought is a highly valuable skill.  However, when critical thought moves from intellectual debate to strict judgment, there is a tendency to want to complain and to put others down; furthermore, the result can be that one is never content with anything. The art of critical thought begat the French pastime of complaining.  No one is ever happy with anything, which means we should just try not to be happy, period.  Take the weather.  Most of France has a true four seasons — essentially mild compared to the summer in Las Vegas or the winter in Montreal.  However, in the summer in France, you will hear the very same people who complained that the winter was too cold that the summer is too hot.  This is where perspective is good (and presumably travelling to other countries is a recommendable activity).   Yet, the French typically prefer to stay in France for their holidays — in part a question of budget, part a question of francophonie (and the usual notions of visiting family, etc.), and in part a question of enjoying an amazing choice within the boundaries of the Hexagon.  Frankly, though, you might be excused for thinking that the French prefer to stay amongst themselves to rant and rave within the confines of France, to evaluate each other’s ‘esprit‘ (quickness of mind, sharpness of tongue) and to complain about la condition humaine.

If you watch French roundtables on national television here, you will find plenty of well educated people that like to debate endlessly (and to cut each other off in mid sentence).  With more or less eloquence, the debates in isolation could be considered interesting.  However, the reality behind the debates is that they are more about having one’s opinion aired and heard than actually bringing about change.  The notion of responsibility for one’s ideas is limited to the articulation.  And, heaven forbid the idea should make true sense.  Once the individual’s ideas are out in the public, the collective spirit of France unfurls the flag and puts up red, white and blue tape to squash it, for a return to the unchanged, unchangeable way it was.  The French give great importance to ideas and there are many extraordinary French philosophers and writers.  Ideas are definitely more noble than action.  However, service is all about action and execution.

Taking a slight tangent, it occurs to me that the French are so enamoured with aesthetics and critical thought that it is the quest for the ideal, the perfect solution, that impedes progress.  Critical thought suggests that you can always find another, superior way.  The French are masters of la remise en cause, to put into question the actual premise for doing a particular act in the first place (before even wanting to improve it).  Perfection is indeed a wonderful ambition.  However, it cannot become an excuse for inaction.  The ship will by pass by if you wait for Valhalla.   And in the meantime, service-related businesses trying to develop in France — such as hairdressig salons, retail outlets, or a visiting company such as Starbucks –  are suffering from a lack of a trained talent pool.

The truth is that good service comes from people who enjoy people.  They must love being social.  They must have a positive attitude.  They must be able to focus on person coming in without judgment.  Want to walk in their shoes, per se.  Great service also comes from people who have, deep down, a strong self confidence.  If that is a tall order in any country, it also explains why good service should be paid for!

If Paris is the city of lights, an illuminated denizen of brilliant thinkers, one wonders when light bulbs will turn on about the need for quality service if the millions of tourists are going to keep wanting to return.

My three suggestions:

1. get rid of the “service compris” in the restaurants

2. introduce more sports and thespian activities into the school curriculum (to develop more teamwork and public speaking)

3. develop some government sponsored initiative (because if the government is not involved, it just will not go far) to incite innovative training programmes about true service.

What do you think? What ideas do you have?

For some good reading on the topic of French service, I suggest “Service Compris” (2000) by Philippe Bloch/Ralph Hababou/Dominique Zardel.

In a series of 3 posts, I am going to comment on the top nine (for two thousand and NINE) things that I captured at #LeWeb and believe will be particularly relevant for the following year in the digital world.  Many of these “soundbytes” were twittered in live streaming.  Even Queen Rania provided beautifully sculpted 140 character phrases…  In the last post, I will make some concluding remarks as to the ramifications for “real life” business.

1. Life changing versus live streaming? To Loic and Geraldine’s credit, there was a very strong component of “social” content to the conference, making social media as much about social mores as about the internet media.  Among the recurring themes was the importance of education.  Funnily enough, I didn’t hear the word eLearning mentioned even once on the mainstage.  Highlight “social” speeches came from Danah Boyd @Zaphoria and Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  On the front page of Queen Rania’s site: “Education = Opportunity … to escape poverty; …to live healthily; …to hope.  Education is a lifeline.”  Queen Rania presented her One Goal campaign to help educate the 75 million children that don’t have access to education (asking the social media community to dedicate One Day a Year to promoting education).

2. The internet is creating a new social reality. Two points here around visibility.  First, usually, the issue is that the lowly can’t rise to the fore.  But here, the issue is how the highly (her highness in this case) can come down to the fore.  If a Queen says that “I can get closer to people via my digital self than as my real self…” [let's face it being a queen makes making friends a little tricky], then there MUST be something going on, as titles and judgments are viewed [skewed?] differently — thanks to greater accessibility and sometimes even because of the anonymity.  You can, of course, find Queen Rania on Twitter and Facebook.  Secondly, Danah Boyd, @Zephoria, spoke about the “Power of Visibility.”  Previously, certain types of violence and ugliness, such as bullying, were only visible via the equivalent black eyes.  Now, thanks to a new found visibility and a greater circulation of information, certain (anti)social issues are now visible to a broader audience.  The opportunity is for us to pause and appreciate “the power of what you can see.”  And the question Ms Boyd posed was whether or not we are looking at what we see? See the text of Ms Boyd’s talk here.  The common thought here is that the out-of-touch royalty can come down to the granular level of society while the ugly invisible horrors rise to the top.  Both are now visible and that’s a good thing.

3. Yossi Vardi, Investor & Entrepreneur made a 15 minute video-laced talk entitled “the rise of the emotional web.”  In a parody, Vardi spoke about the opportunity to tap into the dead market.  Using numerous films and photographs (presumably all available on the ‘net somewhere), Vardi passed second degrees messages via his “death” theme about how amazing and emotional the web can be.  Emotion and humour are absolutely embedded on the web.  Technology can be rendered human (demonstrating the merging of the real and virtual).  Not only a very fun delivery, a meaningful 15 minutes… if everyone got it, remains to be seen. I spoke with Vardi after his presentation, when he spoke to me about the 9 different notions that are particular to the web interface and which make the experience exceptionally different from the 2-dimensional, static paper media.  These notions included among others: discovery, attending, be attended to, collaboration… While I cannot do justice to that offline discussion, I can direct you to TED to see his “Fight Local Warming” speech.

If the plight of children and the role of women is the key issue for the  MEDEF Summer University [Universite d'Ete] 2009, Ms. Cherie Blair was a wonderful choice to open the conference. If her speech felt a little long, there were many interesting points raised in her 30 minute speech.  I captured below a few sound bytes that resonated for me:

The men among the 3000 people in attendance in the room (and in positions of power in general) will need to be, not only interested in, but, to play a critical role in solving the challenges of the 21st century facing our children.  As Ms. Blair suggested, most of the women in the room are probably already attuned to the issues… However, it is only when men and women work together as equals that “we can make a difference.”

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, a universally agreed set of non-negotiable standards and obligations, is signed by all countries of the United Nations but two: Somalia and the United States.  Maybe President Obama will sign up the US?

There are 1 billion children in the world lacking proper sanitation.

All the research and studies show that an investment in educating a girl [in third world countries] is a better investment than investing in a boy.  Educated women have healthier, fewer and more educated children.  And, educated women are likely to have a stronger voice in their family and their economy….

“Educate a man, you educate an individual.
Educate a woman and you educate a family and a nation.”

Tony Blair was told by a patriarch of the backbench, back when he was serving as an opposition MP, that if he kept leaving the House of Commons promptly after the 7pm o’clock session (to take care of his children) without spending some time fraternising with “the boys” that he would never get anywhere in politics….

Ms. Blair described being a working mother as being an experiment in organized chaos… There is so much to do in managing and finding work-life balance.  In order for the concept of “flexible work” to get to the next level it will take concrete actions — not words — led by the top [and visible] executives.  On this point, I fully subscribe to the need to have role models, role models who can succeed to find that equilibrium all the while replying adequately to the pressures and needs of the company’s stakeholders.

France has a system that suits a society where fewer women work… i.e. Ms. Blair suggested that serious change needs to come to France.  She did not elaborate on this point, but one must assume she is referring, among other things, to the midweek break at schools in particular.  On the other side, France has an amazing crèche system that starts at the age of 3 years old…

As opposed to believing that the youth of today are aimless, shallow and uncultivated, Ms Blair insisted that today’s young people have incredible compassion, energy and depth.  Plus, they have a connectivity across the world…  It would seem that we, the parents, should be learning from our kids.

To a question from the floor about a good model to follow (outside of France) in terms of treating women and children, per Cherie Blair, there is no one best solution, but there is a range of models.  If she did not specify which countries were in that range, Ms Blair referred to the World Economic Forum which scales the countries of the world in terms of the gender gap across a number of criteria.  It’s true that the Nordic countries dominate the top 5, she said and that Europe has the best record among the regions.   However, “the Scandinavian model is too prescriptive in terms of childcare,” meaning that women may not even have the choice to stay at home with their children.  [I have written about the WEF Study previously on my blog .]

A woman who has taken a gap out of her career to have a child and take care of that child should be able to return to work under truly normal conditions.  Ms Blair said, “[T]here is too much subtle culture in business that says ‘we know we have to [give a woman maternity leave, etc]‘… but, if you are going to do that, we know you are not really serious about your career…”  This is a problem for women, and an even bigger problem for men who are interested in parental leave and a share on the home front because of the persistent prejudice on the career.

Overall, a well presented case… Hopefully, it did not fall on deaf — largely male — ears.

Via Sciences Humaines, a very insightful and thorough French magazine, I read [this article in the aug-sept 2009 issue] about how the video game, Tetris, has been identified as helping trauma victims recover. A study* by scientists at the University of Oxford discovered that Tetris might have a preventive action in helping to efface a [bad] recent memory. The study, published in January 2009, evaluated the memory of people who had just watched a scary [i.e. traumatic] movie and then played at least 10 minutes of Tetris. The theory more or less goes that, in the process of playing tetris, the memory bank is forced to do some gymnastics that effectively wipe out the ability to retain the traumatic events in the scary film. So, is the moral of the story, if you have just watched a scary movie with the kids, to allow them to play 10 minutes of a docile video game, such as Tetris, before going to bed? I imagine not. Whatever the therapeutic nature for medical purposes — and I surely hope that Tetris may be a useful solution — I think that a further study would also be worthwhile if directed at the impact on children’s memory banks.

My feeling is that, if you evaluate the effects of video games played right after doing homework, you will likely have the same type of phenomenon going on! I believe that the visual stimulation, however docile or violent, will likely have a similar “anaesthetising” effect on the child’s capacity to retain information learned in homework. There has been ample work on the impact of playing one game over and over again, as well as the obvious influence of violent games. But, what of docile games?

Anyone have empirical evidence on the impact of even docile video games on children’s memories right after doing homework?

——

Available for reading here via Plos One.

The difference between Educating and Teaching… and the emptiness inside

I have decided to translate into English a post I did in French over the weekend due to the interesting discussion that it provoked. An article, entitled (for you francophones) « Il y a un divorce entre enseignement intellectuel et formation morale », by Jacqueline de Romilly, published in Le Figaro on October 29, 2008, inspired this post.

The article features a speech by Jacqueline de Romilly on the state of education and teaching in France. Education is a subject dear to my heart both personally and professionally. In a post I wrote earlier this year, I touched on the topic addressed in the speech by Ms. de Romilly, writing about the differences between education and training.

While teaching relates to the transmission of knowledge and intellectual learning, Ms. de Romilly stresses the importance of education in the larger scope, including the transmission of values. “Education … means enabling someone to develop and flourish with his own qualities; for human beings, such human qualities relate to the spirit, character and suitability for life in society.” She cites three major problems in French ‘education’: (1) the poor knowledge of the language which affects the ability to communicate [with a risk of giving way to violence]; (2) a poor understanding of history and, therefore, of one’s past and one’s culture; and (3) a lack of reading of literature that is formative in the development of ideas and one’s imagination, not to mention what one can learn via certain iconic characters.

Child’s education starts at home

A fundamental concept is that the education of children begins at home. For example, at the dinner table, a family can forge links, telling stories and, at the same time, transferring the family history. But, today, with the quest for time, broken families and stress of work, the transmission of values, personal history and sharing of free time have become rare commodities for a child. I also know that the French philosopher, Luc Ferry, would approve when I say that we, as parents, must cultivate the passion for — and reading of — great classics, in which there are real lessons of life. In fact, it is vitally important for a child to develop his or her passion(s). Through this passion, a child will cultivate his/her curiosity, learn, connect and ultimately give meaning to his/her life.

Extending the concept of education beyond academia, I am a strong believer in the educational value of sports: how to work as a team, be a leader, to deal with physical challenges, to learn to win or lose with grace. Of course, sports are not all equal in the transmission of these values and are not necessarily for everyone. But for many, sport is also a avenue to channel one’s [excess] energy. In another domain, I believe deeply in the importance of performance arts, such as theatre and dance. Participating in theatre at school (I had roles in a dozen plays) was very formative for me – theatre called for the development of the self, opened me up to the diversity of personalities, and exercised my communication skills and stage presence. In England and university in the United States, I also greatly appreciated the art of debate – an environment that hones one’s talents in defending one’s ideas. It also serves to sharpen communication skills and how to compete in a public forum.

Education in France & America : an echo?

What struck me in the article by Ms. de Romilly was the way in which what she described echoed with the state of education – and society more broadly – in the United States. Ms. de Romilly does not cite the influence of the Internet which is normal to the extent the Internet is merely a tool and not at the root of the problem. But she could have expanded about the lack of attention span of children, distracted by the hyper-visual world, the addictive online games, chat rooms without profound meaning, and so on. Across the Atlantic in the US, a book was released this summer called “Why We Hate Us,” by Dick Meyer. In a similar sense, but coming from a completely different angle, Mr. Meyer writes of the lack of interest that have vis-à-vis each other. For Mr. Meyer, hate is not the hatred of fear & loathing, but the hate as in “oh, [women] don’t you just hate it when the men start talking about sports.” The level of conversation in suburban dinners in the United States, says Meyer, pushes some Americans to seek solitude, isolation (at the very least, it does nothing to encourage meaningful bonding). The conversation is too dehumanized. Many are disappointed by the lack of culture, the lack of depth – and indeed, the dulling effect of being permanently “politically correct.” Americans, he writes, naturally turn to the Internet to find interaction with others who share a specific passion, people who are present at any time within social media networks. Is the same phenomenon currently spreading to France?

Taking a helicopter view on Ms. de Romilly’s speech, I would say that teaching in France focuses too much on academics in general and should incorporate a broader scope on “education,” such as sports, theatre and even debate. With the emphasis on subject matters that promote the left side of the brain (maths, sciences…), schooling in France is flawed and gives less chance for children to blossom fully. Both Ms. de Romilly and Mr. Meyer talk about their values as “old” values; yet, even if some consider them retroactive, these are, in my opinion, timeless values and seem – in some circles, at least – to find a resonance on both sides of the Atlantic (and, of course, the Channel, too).

Blogs that have written on the book “Why We Hate Us”:
Page 99 Test
Campaign for the American Reader

If you are in or interested in education, you should enjoy this explanation which I heard via Mitch Joel in his intro to Six Pixel’s of Separation podcast #104. Quoting a conference speaker Mitch heard in Toronto, he shared with us how to make the difference:

Any of you fathers in the audience have a daughter? If so, the question I have for you is whether you would rather your daughter have sex training or have sex education?

Simple distinction.

So, what does education mean? As Socrates believed, education (educere, to lead or draw out in Latin), is about making apparent what you already know. For example, one is led to understand one’s own value system. But, it also speaks in part to the pedagogical method of having people learn through experiment or experience: the interaction brings out the learning–in which case training has all its place. Merriam-Webster writes as a second definition of education: “the knowledge and development resulting from an educational process.” A school formally considers imparting knowledge as its core contribution to a student’s education. The question, however, is to what extent a school’s remit is to work on the secondary component, that of development? What should “development” look like? Learning how to learn, rewarding curiosity, instilling manners & discipline, teamwork, sex education… etc. Where does it start and end?

In France, in the Figaro of 6 June 2008, LCI OpinionWay presents the results of a survey saying that 89% of those interviewed were favourable to an obligatory « real moral and ethical instruction » at primary schools. In the same survey, 93% said that French primary education needed to return to the basic knowledge of reading, writing and counting. For the debate on France’s national education, see page 12 of the pdf file here.

Another interesting question in the same survey, showed that 31% of respondents believe that it is a priority to reform the training of the teachers, in France. And in a curious spin, the survey showed a range of 18% up to 52%, according to the Presidential candidate the respondent voted for: basically with those voting for the left [Ségolène Royal 18%] feeling reform is less a priority while on the right [Sarkozy 44% and Le Pen 52%] feeling that it is more a priority. Voters of Bayrou were down the middle at 36%.

Education = FORMation

In French, the word education is typically translated as “formation.” The Larousse writes: “Conduite de la formation de l’enfant ou de l’adulte.” Etymologically, formation is quite a strong term — ironically, word formation is a definition of etymology, too. In its execution, however, “formation” is regularly closer to “training.” Education encompasses a wider mandate and, in the case of sex [or athletics] training, is less a question of repetition and more about the context. I tend naturally to attribute to education terms such as ‘life skills.’ And I continue to advocate that sports is a very good way to bring life skills into the education of a child.

In any event, as a close to this post, when I asked a couple of mothers of daughters whether they preferred their daughter(s) receive sex training or sex education, they both smiled and said, under certain conditions, each had their benefit. Even sex training depends on the context.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Teachers – How to get rid of the bad apples?

As much as I would love to continue praising the great teachers in my life, it occurs to me that many countries feel that their educational systems are in dire straits. With my Franco- Anglo- American educational upbringing, I want to look at each of the three systems I know best. Each has its strengths: US = positive reinforcement, extra-curriculars & universities; UK = all rounded academics & sports; FR = academics. However, they each have serious failings and somewhat similar challenges. These can be resumed as: low motivation and accountability among the teachers (no merit pay and no punishment for underperformance), staffing issues (over-staffed in France, under- in the US), and an increasingly stretched family situation.

Accountability Issues. For starters, I return to the story of being able to judge and bring true accountability to teachers. In France, note2be [see prior post en français], a sensible student-grades-teacher site, was closed down despite the very widely known failings of the French educational system. In the US, similar sites have been in existence with great success (e.g. Rate my professors), but that hasn’t cured the US of its huge educational challenges. Per this banner [upper left] at Times Square in NYC, the Teachers’ Union in the States is so strong that the worst teachers can’t get fired. You can, meanwhile, vote for your worst teachers at TeachersUnionExposed. In a novel competition, the 10 worst teachers will be paid $10,000 to “get out.” The site explains how difficult it is to unload bad teachers:

“In 2003, one Los Angeles union representative said: ‘If I’m representing them, it’s impossible to get them out. It’s impossible. Unless they commit a lewd act.’ Between 1995 and 2005, only 112 Los Angeles tenured teachers faced termination — eleven per year — out of 43,000. And that’s in a school district whose 2003 graduation rate was just 51 percent.”

In the UK, the situation is similar in some regards. Referring to a May 5, 2008 The Daily Telegraph article, entitled ‘Bad teachers letting down children’, the General Teaching Council of England issued a report at the beginning of May saying that as many as “24,000 poor teachers may work in the state system” as school heads essentially relocate underperforming teachers to other schools rather than “dealing” with the problem. Since 2000, the report details that just 46 out of 500,000 teachers have been reported for incompetence.

Merit Pay & Staffing Issues. On the one hand, the lack of accountability and appropriate measures being taken is an absolute shame. Schools, like governments and even hospitals, can do with a healthy measure of good business practices. On the other hand, these “social” necessities [health, school] continue to struggle with adequate finances. Teachers and nurses both provide enormously important functions in our society. And both require substantial training and education. The lack of “good” pay is certainly not motivating. However, this is not an excuse not to find ways to measure performance and hold them accountable. Unlike nurses (where it is difficult to find statistical measurements), teachers can be graded by the objective evaluations of their students. But, just like bad teachers should be dealt with, good teachers should be recognized — given their just due. And merit pay should be encouraged. However, merit pay is systematically rejected by the Unions.

The state of teaching today in the US–with its low pay, lack of accountability and “hyper” Gen Y student body–leads, not surprisingly, to a lack of teachers–much less, good teachers–coming into the profession. From Teachers Union Fact, “[a]ccording to NEA researchers, 41 states [in the US] are currently experiencing a shortage of math teachers. Forty-three have shortages of science and special education teachers.”

Who is Responsible? For England, newly elected mayor of London, Boris Johnson met with NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg (Daily Telegraph article) and Boris is apparently considering taking direct control of Education (getting rid of the Board of Education). He will have his work cut out for him. But, I am afraid that the US (or NYC) has no solid answers (see comparative report against OECD countries). Certainly, the numbers in the US are not encouraging, with the perilously high dropout rates–if one can get a reliable figure [see here from the National Bureau of Economic Resources how the range of US high school graduates ranges from 66-88%]. The illiteracy and, in general, low levels of Maths and English are an embarrassment for the US. Surely, education is one of the biggest structural problems facing the US — one that involves the ability to accommodate the influx of immigrants as well as the less fortunate neighbourhoods. While the US boasts a good number of “top students,” I would have to believe that a large number of those students are children of immigrants from countries where academics are valued (i.e. China, Korea, India…); and that Middle America and below are seriously underperforming. For the US to maintain its position in the world, it will absolutely need both a high flying top end and a better-than-average average.

Finally, there is the family situation. Split families. Dual-working parents. Too much television and/or internet. New “illnesses” such as ADD. Differing notions of discipline. SMS lingo and emoticons. There is, in all these challenges, an evolving dispensing of responsibility by the family. “It’s not my job to teach my children,” one can sometimes hear. And, truth be told, when parents are called upon to oversee 2 to 3 hours of homework per night for 10 year olds, that is a sign of system overload and just not feasible for full-time working parents. Parents are not necessarily perfect pedagogues–especially because of the emotional nature of parent-child relations. And, if a parent’s time is split between hard work and hard homework, where is the time for the “other stuff?” Parents must learn to work better with the schools. Parents need to get aligned with the school’s teachers. And, if possible, they ought to be involved with the school. But, sadly, the complicity is too often missing.

The solutions? Teaching is a magnificent profession when it is fully embraced. And, while the pay can surely improve, apparently, a teacher (at a day school) will be actually teaching students less than half the number of days in a year. The potential quality of life is virtually unique. However, motivation remains terribly low on balance. My feeling is that the educational systems need to have the best elements of a private enterprise (meritocracy…); but, these must be subscribed within a long-term view that a government must impose. Part of the challenge of changing an educational system is the precarious nature of swinging wildly from one curriculum to another or from one practice to another, in the process destabilizing the teachers AND distancing the parents from the ability to participate (when they do) in the complementary education. Parents have a substantial role to play which for many, in today’s economically stressed times, is difficult to fulfill. Yet, having chosen to be a parent, they must take responsibility for their choice.

And What To Do As A Parent? Despite the invasive presence of computers and televisions, as I heard Luc Ferry (contemporary French philosopher) recently say, give love to your children and stress the value of the great classics (books, movies…whichever classics you may choose with passion). These are timeless values that give grounding and learnings for life. For, education to be “successful,” it must be a complete concept. It needs to cover the academics, but also needs to have sentimental value. Both parents and schools have their responsibility. Stop the blame game and work together.

International Mix. If I had an educational cocktail to suggest, it would be the academic intensity of the Asian culture, the extra-curriculars of the American system, the rigour of the French academics and the playing fields of English schools. Unfortunately I don’t know enough about the German system to comment although I hear many good things. If you know of positive elements of other educational systems, don’t hesitate to chime in!

Background reading/viewing for this post:

* Two Million Minutes – a film comparing the education of 6 students in China, India & US (trailer on YouTube – where I picked up this comment from kesjalyn: “i go to the #1 high school in america (as ranked by US News and World Report)and i’m really lazy, i never work more than two or three hours a night, and i still get good grades. so our schools definitely do not expect enough of students.” [note that US NWR got the capital treatment!)
* Nature.com, Making the Grade, May 2008
* Christian Science Monitor – World’s schools teach U.S. a lesson
* Education Watch international – Validation of Rate My Professors