High School at a Crossroads

Will high schools become mere certification mills? Or will they redefine themselves as collaborative environments for developing 21st century skills?

Changes are afoot in society that may redefine the role of schools, especially high schools. The traditional role of high schools as transmitters of content knowledge is already being overtaken by a process that I call information emancipation—the ready availability of knowledge in open-source online environments.

This availability goes beyond encyclopedic resources like Wikipedia. Knowledge is now available in formats that not only provide information, but also package that information and transmit it to learners using technology-based delivery systems that can emulate and even surpass those of our aging education institutions.