Marianas History Conference III - Part 3

economy to politics to learning. In particular, digital technology and the accessibility of information and social networks have given students the tools to design learning that is customized, interesting, and communal. However, Robinson notes that while the learning landscape has evolved into something more organic, education systems remain largely mechanistic.

But education systems must evolve to meet the demands of the new millennium. As Linda Darling-Hammond (2001), one of the leading researchers on 21st century learning, has pointed out, “may have worked reasonably well many decades ago for the purposes for which it was designed…[but] it has proven increasingly inadequate to the new” demands on education (p. 355). A recent workforce study conducted by IBM affirms this need for change, finding that as opposed to the standardized, rote learning manufactured by the mechanistic model, the new economy prioritizes adaptability to change and creativity in generating new ideas, both of which stem from a more organic model of education.

Beyond the needs of the 21st economy, Robinson also notes that the global challenges of this millennium require a paradigm shift. Instead of the competitive, compartmentalized perspective of the mechanistic model, we need more collaborative, integrated perspectives that can help everyone better understand and solve problems like terrorism and international conflict, volatile economic markets, and global warming. That is why we need to revolutionize our education systems to cultivate better global citizens who are equipped with the skills and values to address global problems.

Here in the Northern Marianas, this paradigm shift may be less a move forward and more a return to our roots. We personalize our interactions in the countless ways that we trace our familial relationships, which my mom is adept at doing when she tries to explain how so and so is my uncle and my cousin. We teach engaging lessons when we gather at the licazu and share the latest juicy gossip, which is simply our way of enforcing social mores. And we live collaboration before, during, and after typhoons when we help each other instead of looting our stores.

Unfortunately, these aspects of our organic cultures seem limited to anecdotes, because the scholarly research on Chamorro and Carolinian education is sadly thin.

Most of the research about education in the Northern Marianas reinforces the AngloAmericanized mechanistic model, but rarely critiques it. We need more scholars to use that mechanistic model to unleash the organic potential of our education system, !

154 ・ 3rd Marianas History Conference 2017