Arthur Shostak's new book, Anticipate the School You Want , is an extraordinarily timely addition to the literature. The time is certainly right for a practical tome which builds upon the long recognized need for providing the next generation with the tools to shape their own futures, and Dr. Shostak has provided a cogent and knowledgeable set of guidelines for making that happen. This is not a book for dreamers but for working teachers, with resources, strategies and expected outcomes. And it does not underestimate the obstacles to changing schools for the better, but instead outlines a strong case for why the teaching of foresight in K-12 programs must be initiated and then expanded. The book is articulate and thoughtful, providing an excellent introduction to foresight and its benefits, as well as well crafted lesson plans and related documentation. In a time when change can be disruptive and confusing, this book shines a light on the potential for innovative improvement within the education system.
Fifty-four years after Brown vs. the Board of Education we now have a blueprint for anticipating the school you want. This book is all-inclusive. It is a practical and professional handbook for everyone interested in the future of K–12 education with decentralization being the key to the structure of proactive and successful learning for K–12 education glocally. One of the author’s visions for each school is a futures committee that includes students. Another idea he proposes as a wildcard is VIV's (voice-in/voice-out computers using visual displays but has no text) meaning that the spoken language will trump the written language. If you think about this closely, this is happening at a fast pace (read VIVO by William Crossman). Each chapter is a case study with highly recommended readings, resources and web sites, a learner’s paradise. This book is timeless because Shostak uses qualitative ideas and research that can be interchanged with new ideas and research. A must-read.
His vision for re-visioning schools is compelling. His book provides an excellent map for redesigning the curriculum and a dandy resource for a spirited community conversation.
Professor Shostak's Anticipate the School You Want is an extraordinary achievement, reflecting both his perceptive and innovative thinking about education and his many years of observing what actually happens in classrooms. The book is packed with highly engaging and practical suggestions for teachers who want to inspire their students with a vision of their future and giving them the tools for achieving worthwhile lifetime goals. Fortunate will be the teachers who learn from this book. Even more fortunate will be their students!
Professor Art Shostak is one of the most creative and innovative futurists that we have. He has developed some powerful ways how to deal with the future learning for our children where they need it most- in the K-12 school system.If America is to have a significant part to play in the future of our globalized world, those who are in charge of the education of the next generation should read and implement what he is suggesting.
Futures Studies should be considered an essential part of education. Art Shostak lays out a cascade of possibilities for making it happen. At the heart of his book is learning through inquiry...with a futuristic twist.
One of the great blind spots in education today is any discussion about the future. We say we are preparing students for the future, but we rarely teach about the future in any substantive or systematic way. We study the past, as we should, but few teachers ever discuss the world that students will live and work within. The absence is understandable, perhaps, because teachers themselves were never taught about the future so they are reluctant to teach something they do not know. That is why Art Shostak's book is so important. Finally, he offers a blueprint for building a respectable and rigorous curriculum around the study of the future in any school in the country.
Buckminster Fuller said, 'The best way to forecast the future is to make it happen.' Futurist Art Shostak has created a richly detailed guidebook for K-12 educators, spelling out how they can make the future happen in their schools, and for their students.
Art Shostak makes a compelling and practical argument for a transition from a linear education model of the 19th and 20th centuries to a synergistic model for the 21st century. The book moves from concept to process to practical strategies with concrete examples that enhance implementation. The "how-to" nature of the work is particularly valuable to anyone looking for one map for the future of education.
Art Shostak's book does two things excellently: it makes an ironclad case for the necessity of integrating futuristics with K-12 education, and it proposes common-sense concrete steps we can take now to begin to make this integration a reality. In my grade book, Shostak gets an A+.
Not since Alvin Toffler's classic anthology Learning for Tomorrow: the Role of the Future in Education (written over 30 years ago) have we had such a comprehensive attempt to infuse learning with futuristic thinking. I predict that along with Toffler, Prof. Shostak's book will also become a classic in the field, a standard by which 21st century educators and futurists will measure their own endeavors. Chapter I sets the tone, a ruthless definition of what futuristics is and what it is not, and the implications this has for educators. The rest of the book, following on this brilliant opening gambit, does not disappoint. By clearing the rubble of failed futuristic structures of the past Shostak prepares the ground for a much more robust theoretical and practical edifice. Shostak's fundamental intellectual honesty infuses the entire book with a practical, doable approach rarely found in academe but which is most welcome for those of us who labor in the frontlines of real life educational systems. His proposals for what should be and what could be done are disciplined by a pragmatism of what can be done in the complex educational reality of today. A must read for all those concerned that modern educational systems are becoming increasingly inadequate to the n
Shostak calls on schools to recognize the urgency of preparing students for a future where people will need to learn collaboratively how to solve significant global and local challenges. Learning about our future is just as important as learning about our past, and Shostak offers practical advice about how to create space in our educational priorities to bring a greater awareness to the wisdom of both perspectives.
Professor Arthur Shostak has an extraordinary gift: he synthesizes large amounts of information into significant future trends; he makes connections between the present and the future; and he charts understandable paths to make the journey both fruitful and optimistic. Professor Shostak recently helped create an extraordinarily successful strategic planning event with the Montgomery Township community. I recommend his book to all school administrators interested in managing the future.
Dr. Shostak has created an extremely thought-provoking treatise, challenging all to see the future possibilities. He is laying the groundwork for redesigning our educational system to allow our children to be properly prepared for the future. Shame on us if we do not take up his call. Our children deserve nothing less.
His vision for re-visioning schools is compelling. His book provides an excellent map for redesigning the curriculum and a dandy resource for a spirited community conversation.
August 2010 School Administrator
Professor Art Shostak is one of the most creative and innovative futurists that we have. He has developed some powerful ways how to deal with the future learning for our children where they need it most- in the K-12 school system.If America is to have a significant part to play in the future of our globalized world, those who are in charge of the education of the next generation should read and implement what he is suggesting.
His vision for re-visioning schools is compelling. His book provides an excellent map for redesigning the curriculum and a dandy resource for a spirited community conversation.
August 2010 School Administrator Magazine
