In education, it is easy to focus on marks, percentages, and report cards. Parents naturally want to know how their children are performing, and schools are often measured by academic outcomes. While achievement is important, some of the most meaningful growth that takes place in a classroom cannot be captured by a number on a page.
In recent years, Jewish educators have spoken extensively about resilience. We seek to develop resilient students and communities, and to ensure the flourishing of Jewish life in an increasingly complex world. Yet resilience in Jewish education is not sustained by values alone. It depends on the successful transmission of language, culture, memory, and identity from one generation to the next.
There is a question that continues to surface in education circles, from conference stages to staffrooms:
How do we prepare children for a digital future?
It sounds like the right question. Urgent, even. But the more time I spend in conversations with educators across phases and contexts, the more I believe we may be asking the wrong thing entirely.
In the hyper competitive world that we are raising our children in, performance is imperative. Every year when the matric results are released, we are astonished at the sheer volume of distinctions that students in our schools are producing. We reflect, almost nostalgically, on the times when 3 distinctions were seen as a phenomenon. This is not because matric is easier (like adults argue) or that children are cleverer (like students argue), rather it is because they simply have to work harder and they are better prepared by their schools.
When you think of gaming, the first image that might come to mind is a greasy-haired adolescent, slumped over in his oversized wingback chair, surrounded by chocolate wrappers, crisp packets and red bull cans – all in a darkened bedroom. If so, think again. While you were sleeping, the video game industry has exploded and is now bigger than the movie industry and North American sports combined! Gaming, now called eSports, has gone mainstream and our schools need to get with the program(mers).
In education, it is easy to focus on marks, percentages, and report cards. Parents naturally want to know how their children are performing, and schools are often measured by academic outcomes. While achievement is important, some of the most meaningful growth that takes place in a classroom cannot be captured by a number on a page.
