21st century thinking

A few nights ago, as I sat on the sofa with my significant other, watching motorcycles go round in circles and wondering how this could be construed as interesting television, I had an unexplained urge to look through my bookshelf. Now the cynics amongst you might say this urge was the result of being bored out of my mind in the 2 minutes it took me to sit down and witness the evening's viewing pleasure. Others, like myself, may see it in more Prophetic, Celestial terms ie. more than mere coincidence. (For those of you not yet out of nappies in the early 90's, see James Redfield's A Celestine Prophecy for an explanation. Not a literary masterpiece by any stretch, but it's message had me completely enthralled for at least 3 of his publications. After which even the message couldn't compensate for the awfulness of his writing style).
Anyway, as I rummaging through the bookshelf searching for an escape from motorcycles and looming assignments, I came across 2 long ago purchased copies of Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats (1985) and New Thinking for the New Millenium (1999). I had read Hats while studying architecture many moon ago but New Thinking was left on the shelf, excuse the pun. Mr de Bono ideas on creative thinking are similar to those of Sir Ken Robinsons (see previous post) or visa versa. In fact, the video below presents many of the same views on creative thinking. I think the term Web 2.0 first surfaced in 1999, so chances are de Bono wasn't even aware of this type of technology and the impact it would have on the way we think and must think in the future. (I could be wrong about this so please don't hammer me in your comments! I am making assumptions here).
In New Thinking, de Bono states that education is an example of a system that has evloved to a point where it is no longer capable of further evolution. In fact, education now (1999 not 2011) gets further away from the needs of society and what individuals within society need. Education is obsessed with literacy and numeracy (ironic that NAPLAN begins tomorrow), a view held by many. He goes to liken education to a pyramid - everyone at the bottom of the pyramid is taught so that the top 20% go on to university. The resulting irony is that the remaining 80% who do not make it, have actually been taught in a manner to get them ready to pass exams to get into uni. Much of this has little value in the outside world. De Bono calls this the 'academic game' - you are required to take in & remember a lot of information and then store this in order to give it back, on demand, during exams. Kids who are poor on the input and storage side have no chance in this game. However, these kids may often be very good thinkers, so long as the thing they are required to think about does not depend on stored knowledge.
De Bono  articulates something which has been bothering me for a while. In a world of mobile technology, e-Learning, web 2.0 and the like, why do I force my child to memorise her times tables every night? What purpose does it serve other than to alienate her from the education system? If she were a willing participant, then fine. But how many kids do we lose by forcing this kind of 'learning' on them? She is a bright and creative child but has no chance to shine in a system that considers her average at best, maybe struggling at worst, just because she doesn't take part in the 'academic game'.
De Bono maintains that the thinking of the last millenium was concerned with what is (requiring analysis, criticism & argument). This seems to be the framework for our education system. But thinking for the 21stC needs to be concerned with what can be (this requires thinking that is creative and constructive). This type of thinking seeks to solve problems by designing a way forward rather seeking established ways of doing things. In constructive thinking, there is an attempt to build on everyone's contribution and so to progress forward. I guess this is where web 2.0 can make a significant contribution towards developing 21stC skills. That is, by encouraging creative and constructive thinking.

I can see this can of worms will require several more posts to help me get my head around it. Perhaps I should have stuck to watching bikes go round in circles - my head would definitely hurt less but who could have guessed?