Imagine you possessed the ability to walk into the future, and you walked into a school – what would you see? Would there be classrooms with desks, chairs and smartboards? Would there even be classrooms, or a school building at all? What is technology like, and how will it be used to connect students around the globe? Do students even go to school, like on a Monday through Friday, or follow a schedule with other students? All these are questions to be asked and answered, as we think about the future of education.
But the future we imagine will not come from waving a magic wand, and the best of what is possible will not materialize by waiting for it to arrive. If we believe that our children deserve a world-class education, we must proactively think towards this, and work to develop what is best. While we are all focused on supporting children and youth by tending to the current conditions, and many of us are working to support what we know and see is coming; some of us must also be focused on envisioning and designing what we want to be, the next horizon. And that is the intended purpose of the Community Commission on the Future of Rochester’s Education. In the coming weeks, you’ll receive information about a two part launch of this exciting work to design and propose a comprehensive model of a world-class education.
Our children and families deserve a high quality education, one that takes the best of what we know now, and of what we can imagine, to give them all the tools and resources they need to be healthy, successful and contributing citizens of the world. That will not come because we want it or imagine it. It will come because we will take the time necessary to research it, design it, and implement it. We must focus on our children’s future and their success…together.
For the Children,
Jackie Campbell
ROC the Future Alliance Director