This piece appeared in one of the US’ largest publications for teachers, Education Week. It distills why we are interested in bringing repair (and a maintenance mindset) into schools.
For educators, framing technology work as a way to be creative, to fix things, and to take care of people and the planet brings more diverse students into the fold—an ongoing challenge in the STEM and computer science fields, where girls and students of color are woefully underrepresented.
And in an economy marked by increasing automation and the rise of artificial intelligence, Gunter said, there’s also an argument to be made that in 20 years, jobs in repair and maintenance will be more accessible than jobs in innovation. Students who start now developing the ability to see the big picture, identify problems, creatively solve them, and adapt to changing circumstances will stand a decent shot.
Indeed, that kind of systems thinking is a hallmark of a maintenance mindset.
It’s not anti-technology, or even anti-innovation.
It’s about rebalancing our relationship with what’s new and what’s now.
There’s a lot more to like in this post - wondering how it will be received by readers?