What are you savvy at? IT-savvy, tech-savvy, (social) media-savvy or are you a savvy shopper, savvy eater or even a savvy beer/wine drinker? Welcome to the latest wonderful Wednesday word: savvy (informal adjective) = having a practical knowledge and understanding of something.
I read in the newspaper article “Job-savvy teenagers shun A-level English” that ever more teenagers are voting with their feet when it comes to future job prospects and choosing against the “antiquated” school subject.
Quite rightly so, if you ask me! Naturally Shakespeare has it place in any English classroom and should not be sidelined totally. But – and there’s always a but – isn’t it time that the educational system be overhauled to meet the (future) needs of an it/social-media/-savvy generation? A generation, which can google their way to knowledge by just pressing a button and speaking into an AI powered machine whenever they need it.
Could a study of Shakepeare’s writing be connected to learning creative writing? Giving students insights from writing song lyrics + coupled with learning to play a musical instrument/reading notes, writing a compelling blog post and maybe even basic copywriting for the widget they sell on Amazon.
Lastly, there’s the grammar thing. Do native kids really need to learn the ins & outs of English grammar? Do kids ever actually need to hand write anything anymore when they have writing devices with a grammar & spell check function built in? Wouldn’t that time be better spent on encouraging kids to read (books) more in school? Or even give that time back to PE so kids do some kind of supervised exercise DAILY.
Thoughty2, one of my favourite YouTubers, has a compelling vlog on this same topic entitled “How school makes kids dumb”. https://youtu.be/uLSv17iE_4Q QOTD
Agree with me or disagree?
to be savvy at sth (Ahnung haben), IT-savvy (computererfahren) to shun sth (jdn/etw meiden), A-level (Abitur(fach)), to vote with one’s feet (mit den Füßen abstimmen), “when it comes to” (was …. angeht), job prospects (Aussichten), to sideline (zur Seite schieben), to overhaul (etw überholen), to meet the needs of sb (jds Bedürfnisse befriedigen), insights (Einsichten), lyrics (Liedtext), coupled with (zusammen mit), compelling (packende/überzeugende), copywriting (Werbetexten), widget (Dingsbums), ins & outs (all Einzelheiten), to encourage sb (anregen), PE (physical education), supervised exercise (betreute Bewegung)
I’d love seeing a more project-oriented teaching at school where kids get to know how maths, science, politics/economy, language/literature etc interact. There shouldn’t be selective lessons that lose touch with reality. Instead projects like „fruit salad“ are a great approach to inspire and enthuse children: calculating the amount of ingredients that are needed. What are their CO2 foot prints? Where do the fruits come from? Under which circumstances are they cultivated with regard to the plants themselves (botany, soil, humidity, temperature, growing area etc) and of course the farmers, too (Fair trade, exploitation, organic farming,…)? What are fruit acid and fructose and how does our body react to them in terms of metabolism? How does pricing in supermarkets work? How much is one bowl of the fruit salad according to the recipe and how many calories does it have? What is a calorie and how long does one have to swim to burn the calories taken up by one bowl? How does a camera work with which we take pictures to present our dish on Insta? And so one. No boring teaching, more action and commitment of the children.
Exactly, couldn’t have said it better. Jenny for Minister of Education!!!!
Thank you. I’ll think about it as soon as there are any vacancies. 😉
In fact, I’d considered becoming a teacher myself for a long time but eventually engineering was more appealing when it was time to choose. However, nowadays I could imagine supporting school projects for a few lessons/units each bringing in my industry knowledge… besides someone that can tell the inside stories of business life with fresh ideas and new perspectives is always a great opportunity for kids to cut their own path.
I sometimes wonder if the ‚machine‘ actually wants anyone really coming in to give children really what they need. Nonetheless RESPECT and go for it!!!!