Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/111663
your turn by Allen H. Kupetz Teaching with Wisdom KNOWLEDGE doesn���t matter. In what year did Napol��on die? Was that before or after the time of Czar Alexander I? What is the atomic mass of gold? Is that more or less than silver? What is the equation for future value? Is that with or without compound interest? It might once have been essential to memorize these facts. Certainly it isn���t now, when all this information is just a click away on a smartphone. So why are we still making students memorize simple facts when such knowledge doesn���t matter anymore? Obviously, students must know an equation exists so they can look it up and employ it when the situation requires; they must understand the historical context of Napol��on���s reign if they are grappling with contemporary politics. But they don���t need to know precise dates and equations when a second on Google will deliver those speci���cs to the palms of their hands. Getting students ready for the real world no longer means transferring knowledge into their heads. It means teaching them skills for the information age: abstract thinking, creative problem solving, and persuasive writing and presenting. It means teaching them when to use the equation for future value, not just having them memorize the equation itself. Our grandparents learned vocations by apprenticing with experts to become plumbers and electricians. I believe our students must master their trade by working with practitioners in the classroom who can teach them how to function in the real world of business. Being Brave in a New World My son recently completed a college-level science course that included a research paper. The professor said students weren���t allowed to use any online sources���they were only to quote articles that had appeared in the contemporary printed press. I���m glad the class didn���t require mathematical calculations or I���d have had to buy my son an abacus and a slide rule. Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, tells people not to worry that their jobs might be outsourced to India or China. Instead, they should worry that their jobs will be outsourced to a computer, because humans can���t compete with computers in terms of knowledge. But computers can���t compete with humans in the essential area of wisdom, which I de���ne as judgment based on experience. British journalist Miles Kington put it this way: ���Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing never to put one in a fruit salad.��� There are many more expansive de���nitions. For instance, Russell Ackoff, a systems theorist and professor of organizational change, believes the content of the human mind can be classi���ed into ���ve categories. In a 1989 article called ���From Data to Wisdom,��� which appeared in the Journal of Applied Systems Analysis, he described the content of the ���ve categories this way: 1. Data���a collection of symbols. 2. Information���data that are processed to be useful. Information provides answers to who, what, when, and where questions. 3. Knowledge���application of data and information; it answers how questions. 4. Understanding���an appreciation of why. 5. Wisdom���evaluated understanding. Based on Ackoff���s de���nition, I argue that education in general, and business education in particular, should migrate from a focus on information and knowledge to a focus on understanding that will lead to wisdom. And thus schools need to migrate from a faculty majority of PhDs to a faculty majority of educated, experienced, and successful practitioners. Why are we still making students memorize simple facts when such knowledge doesn���t matter anymore? 66 March/April 2013 BizEd