No Big Ideas?

Neil Gabler suggested in last Sunday's New York Times that there are no more big ideas. Compared to the big thinkers of the past, the USC prof laments "If our ideas seem smaller nowadays, it's not because we are dumber than our forebears but because we just don't care as much about ideas as they did."

He admits some big thinking has just migrated to the marketplace but dismisses the greedy bastards trying to make a buck from "intellectually challenging thoughts." About consumer electronics, Gabler says "these ideas may change the way we live, they rarely transform the way we think. They are material, not ideational."

This article has bothered me for a week because it doesn't reflect my experience. I have the good fortune to spend all of my time with people engaged in learning innovations. To a person (even the capitalists of the bunch) the folks I interacted with this week are committed to educational impact at scale. I appreciate that impact is different than purely intellectual pursuits, but it often incorporates big ideas and always includes a challenge to conventional wisdom.

Here's a sample of 10 folks I talked to or talked about in the last five days:

• An audience at the PDK/Gallup announcement with big questions about what we want students to know and about inequities in this American life.
• A computer scientists devoted to building teacher capacity in K-12 and married to a scientist working on longevity and brain preservation.
• A foundation exec trying to double the number of Americans with college degrees.
• A former high-tech CEO that is committed to creating the best university in the world.
• A tech exec that moved to Africa to build a network of high performing slum schools.
• Three young tech execs that sold a company and are now building an information platform that will transform college preparation.
• A video producer that has turned his attention to literacy with engaging video of young people debating great books.
• A fund manager that devotes a lot of his time and resources to developing extraordinary urban secondary schools.
• A 24-year-old that wants to set the standard for how all learning content will be shared
• A former governor promoting deeper learning and gap-closing strategies

None of these folks will spend the fall reflecting at Walden Pond, but helping more young people develop the intellectual capacity to connect with the idea economy is the most important work anyone can pursue, in my book. As evidenced by this list, the work of social enterprise often includes big ideas.

As Gabler suggests, it's easy to point to signs of anti-intellectualism in American, but I am encouraged by what appears to be a growing percentage of people, particularly young people, committed to making a difference. If you want to find big ideas today, look for people committed to impact.

 

Follow Tom Vander Ark on Twitter: www.twitter.com/tvanderark

Comments

[Christmas Tree]

10:33 AM on 08/22/2011

What you have spoken about is an excellent reminder that there are people out there who are concerned about the future and welfare of our children. But what I see is a list of individuals doing this. Where is the support of the school districts, parents and the Government?

I taught at a Private grade school where the patents were constantly involved. But then, they had enough money so one spouse could work by choice. The economic situation for the past 40 years had made this impossible for most families.

[iPivoted]

06:23 PM on 08/21/2011

Question of deep learning, closing the achievement gap, and social justice are enormously important big questions that emerge from important discussions of education. My new organization, iPivoted, a nonprofit web portal has created a space where underserved students who need some additional financial support can post a profile. Prospective donors can then view different profiles and then pledge funding towards a scholarships for that specific student. My hope is that this will help remove the financial obstacles that shackle so many aspiring students. While this may not be a big idea, it certainly hope it will impact social and educational justice, which to me are some of the largest issues confronting our country at this time.

[Bea Johnson]

03:09 AM on 08/21/2011

One issue facing the idea market nowadays derives from the cutting of tall grass. If schools in the eighties had been more responsive to the needs of the highly intelligent, creative kids who they bored, sent from class for asking questions, treated with mockery for genuinely wanting to learn? Wow, my experience with the public education system definitely soured me. And it's not that we DON'T have good ideas, the tall grass that got mowed. No one showed up how to put them into action since the focus was ace the standardized test, don't make waves and certainly don't read freely when you're done, you might actually learn something and we can't have that. Luckily, I corrected that outside the education system, but wow. Honestly? Children are all smart, you just have to find thier niche and teach that and not use an approach that's one size fits all. It dumbs us all down.