Checks and Balances

"The marvelous development of science and technics has been counterbalanced on the other side by an appalling lack of wisdom and introspection."

- Carl Jung, Psychology and Religion, 1937

Technology rocks. Flying machines and all that good stuff. Seriously, if we didn't live in a web 2.0 (3.0, 4.0 ff.) world, I wouldn't be writing this. And if I were writing this in an analog world it wouldn't be called "user generated content." It would be... I don't know... a quaint diary entry or something like that. 

We live in an age of texting championships, robotics competitions, digital remixing, and a million +1.0 other technologically driven phenomena of which most people of a certain age have 0.0 experience and awareness. By the time I click "publish post" this post will be obsolete. It's dizzying, awesome, fun, and foundational. Technology is driving the spaceship. 

When Jung, writing in 1937, wrote of an appalling lack of wisdom and introspection, one suspects he knew that, unfortunately, his observation would be eternally relevant. At present, the gap between technological innovation and moral/spiritual life is about as "Grand Canyon" as it ever has been. It seems like technology and morality might even have an inverse relationship:

Technology= fast

Morality/Spirituality= slow

Technology= innovation

Morality/Spirituality= old fashioned

Technology= cool

Morality/Spirituality= rabbi, philosopher, mom

Technology= computer

Morality/Spirituality= mind, heart, soul

Technology, and web 2.0 in particular, are at best, morally and spiritually neutral. Start following #God in Twitter and it's like stepping into a river of theologically themed currents. Start following #JustinBeiber and... well... it's sort of the same thing. The point is that technology is a platform/ media. It cares less about the substance and more about the process of communication. It cares less about what you say and more about how you say.0 it. 

As an educator I'm all for technology. I've seen, firsthand, how bells and whistles help get kids excited about learning. I've typed up rubrics for multimedia assessments and seen the pride and sense of accomplishment that kids have in knowing that they've not only demonstrated learning, but created something. 

What resonates for me in Jung's observation is the need for balance. As technology becomes increasingly savvy, nuanced, responsive, dynamic, and powerful, it seems like "wisdom and introspection" should, at minimum, keep pace. I'd go so far as to say that wisdom and introspection, morality and spirituality, should be driving the ship, rather than computer code. Unfortunately, the "how" of technology-- quick, shiny, flashing, highly edited, impersonal-- is in direct opposition to the "why" of wisdom and introspection. The latter are slow, reasoned, steady, and in many cases, unchanging (and therefore not dynamic). With the world at my fingertips, it's hard to justify working through a a difficult problem when all I've got to do is Google it. The challenge is compounded by the current political/media world, which daily erodes what little space remains in the public square for thoughtfulness and sincerity. 

As educators we play a vital role in advocating for greater balance between the two extremes that Jung identifies. As educators we are both ambassadors for technology as well as ambassadors for wisdom, introspection, morality, and spirituality. As educators we can embrace the "how" of technology and the "why" of wisdom and introspection with equal enthusiasm. We can challenge our students to advance wise and meaningful causes in new and exciting ways. 

Judaism has long affirmed the need for balance: The six days of work are balanced by a day of rest; our particularly Jewish concerns are balanced by a commitment to universalism; our sense of blessing is balanced by our recognition that the world is unredeemed. Our sense of balance, of dialectical creativity, can serve as a guide in our efforts to make sure that the tension between technological innovation and the commitment to wisdom and everything it implies, remains a vital one in the public square. At present we teeter on the precipice of a complete subjugation of our unique human capacities for reasoned thought and ethical conduct to the "flying machines" of tomorrow. The "new bottles" of technology are only useful if they are filled with the wine, old and new, of wisdom, introspection, and a commitment to the life of the soul. 

Immaturity is the Common Denominator

     Too often, when it comes to education, we think of the processes whereby children acquire the skills and dispositions necessary to be successful adults. This is particularly true when it comes to 21C. Take, for example, the concept of "media literacy": we want kids to learn to evaluate the legitimacy of various forms of information such as websites, master various user-generated platforms like wikis, blogs, and facebook, and be mature/responsible users of technology. If only most adults fit this bill! The AASL (American Association of School Librarians) Standards for the 21st Century Learner is a wonderful example of the massive expectations that are embedded in 21C learning standards. There's a name for a child who has even a basic mastery of the AASL's learning outcomes: "adult." 

      At the same time I believe we're fundamentally confused about what constitutes maturity in 21C. Consider the ascendancy of the Digital Native (Prensky, 2001) which brings with it a significant reversal: children are characterized as being more advanced, savvy, and technologically mature, then their teachers and parents (i.e. all the Digital Immigrants). One of the fascinating outcomes of the 21C buzz is that it challenges educators to think anew about the needs, interests, dispositions, habits, and desires of children. The irony is that when many educators think about children they envision the Digital Native who is, at least in theory, more mature than they are. 

     21C and the "generation gap" have led to a measure of confusion between "adults" and "children." We want children to behave like adults, and yet we've positioned adults as inferior and less mature than children. As 21C educators strive to engage children and help them to become more mature users of technology, there's a countercurrent which suggests that children are more mature and advanced than their teachers and parents. 

      I believe that John Dewey offers us a way of resolving much of this confusion. Rather than Digital Natives/ Digital Immigrants or a vision of education that aspires to morph children into skilled adults, we can consider Dewey's concept of "immaturity" found in Democracy and Education, chapter 4. For Dewey, immaturity is the capacity to grow. Immaturity is not a condition to be overcome, but to be perpetually redefined; as we grow, new avenues of growth become available to us. We learn and grow only to again be immature. 

     Immaturity is a concept that unites children and adults rather than dividing us: we're all immature in different ways (meaning: we all have the capacity to grow). It's an idea that helps education move beyond a paternalistic desire to make children into successful adults. It's an idea that saves adults from feeling that they need to bow at the feet of the Digital Native. Immaturity forces us all to look at proximal growth opportunities-- it forces us to look at "now." To come full circle, immaturity reminds us that each person has specific learning tasks that we, and only we, can complete. 

     In Judaism, the most important mitzvah is the next mitzvah. Immaturity is an idea particularly well-suited for Jewish Education which perpetually emphasizes continual growth. Imagine a 21C Jewish educational environment where everyone is learning, where everyone embraces their incompleteness. Such an environment would be truly authentic and inspiring, it would be mutually supportive and collaborative. Much is gained in Jewish education through Dewey's concept of "immaturity" as learning becomes active, personal, relevant, and normalized. It might even be argued that immaturity is a necessary characteristic for Jewish education to go 21C.