Welcome to Ed NeXt Step

Ralph Walker

One of my friends likes to say 'you can't boil the ocean'. To that I respond, 'No, but I have a pot a lighter and a bunch of friends. Let's see how far I can get'. Welcome to my Blog, Ed NeXt Step. This blog has been created as an online space to discuss, debate and challenge anyone who comes to visit about what is the NeXt Step in education??

Education in the United States has been the gold standard for the entire world ever since World War II. Unfortunately in many ways we have been stagnant in our approach to modernizing education and extending its reach and effectiveness. While we continue to do a great job teaching basic skills, creating a literate society and setting a base line for expectations around the world, are we really preparing our youth for the next set of challenges? Are students leaving their institutions with the skills to take on issues of globalization, sustainability, population growth or even just feeding and clothing their families? How do we prepare the next generation for the wide ranging problems of disease, poverty, famine, war, and ultimately how to get by on this planet?

This set of challenges does not only rest on the shoulders of our educators. We are all party to education reform as long as we live in a place where public education is a right and we support that right though action. Regardless if you are a student, parent, educator or someone on the sidelines as a citizen you are engaged. Our taxes support education in this country and even if you are not paying attention you are paying for it.

As an architect and an educational designer I have been engaged with school administrators, teachers, parents and funders around the country who are struggling with modernizing our system without abandoning the infrastructure we have. There are many good, honest people who are looking for the best ways to deliver an excellent education to the most people without leaving anyone out in the cold. There are some amazing ideas boiling away in today's schools.

Our corporations, industries and professions all rely on an educated population to provide the products and services we all use. Individuals within our society but outside the education system have a unique perspective about the effectiveness of our schools. We have seen the investment of time, money and resources in new concepts from titans of business and industry for centuries. It is critical that we engage everyone in these issues. In my personal experience both with non profit boards and individual projects I have found that the impact of these members of our community can be profound.

While it is also important to understand new ideas we must remember that we can't just chuck the system we have and start over. Millions of children and families rely on stable and effective schools today. Transforming that system can not overlook the realities of today's world. We have an amazing infrastructure of qualified teachers and administrators as well as the physical, monetary and political structures in place. They are assets that should not be ignored, but instead leveraged for maximum effectiveness. How can we get the best efforts out of what we already have?

In this blog you will read posts that will range from discussions of classroom design to whole system reform. Anything that is relevent to making our education systems better is worth writing about. Nothing is to small, or to large to engage in an open dialogue. If you have a topic, bring it on!

Educators, policy makers, designers, planners, students, parents and citizens are encouraged to engage in this challenge. We can't do this alone in a dark room. It is time to open the windows and shed some light on the challenges we face in taking our educational systems and ultimately our society to the next level. Bring your best ideas, thoughts and experiences and lets find out what the NeXt Step in education really is!!