The "new middlers" and current ELA classrooms

In Friedman’s book, he describes the “the new middlers” or middle class jobs and skills our that our students will compete for or need to compete in the global economy. The first skill that our students must be prepared for is to be collaborators and orchestrators. Friedman states, that “a lot of new middle jobs will involve collaborating with others or orchestrating collaboration between companies” (281). Because the world is now “flat,” these individuals will not only have to collaborate with others in the work place but the global community. In terms of preparing our students to orchestrate and collaborate, I do not think that the typical English classroom is doing a good job of this. In ELA classrooms, teachers expect their students to be passive vessels; they do not let them take the reigns of the class. The teacher is the collaborator and the orchestrator. This will not prepare our students to “operate in, mobilize, inspire, and manage a multidimensional and multicultural workforce”(283).

Another skill that our students must have is being able to synthesize. According to Friedman, “the next new hot selling products and service— will come from putting together disparate things that you would not think of going together”(283). We will need the future employees to be able to see the big picture and figure out what is in demand. This will, of course, surround technology. Friedman says, “Information technology will be so embedded in every aspect of a business that the IT organization will move away from technology to the integration of business process” (284). Unfortunately, our students are not prepared to do this. As teachers, I think that we can see the students who could contribute to the “IT” business, but we squash any form of creativity out of our students. Instead of preparing our students for this synthesis in business, we prepare them for the Regents. In order for students to do well we must let them experiment with technology, so they can see for themselves what could be combined.

Two other skills that ELA teachers are not preparing students with is to be leveragers and adapters. We need people who can understand “how things tie together from end to end” and we need people who are more adaptable and versatile”(288-289). We need to make our students more versatile and able to change with global demands. I feel that school structure is extremely rigid and does not allow for students to break out and figure out what they or the class needs.

In conclusion, the employees of the future will need to be able to understand technology and how it pertains and relates to a global community. The problem is our ELA classrooms are not promoting this. As pre-service teachers, we must integrate group projects and assign team leaders so our students can practice the skills that they will need to compete in the “real world.”