A Few Numbers That Prompt Us to “Ditch the Auto Pilot”

Sometimes numbers speak for themselves, so I am not going to write much commentary.  In the most recent issue of Net Assets, the National Business Officer Association shared these tidbits, artifacts of our time. I don’t have the original source citations, but I very much trust our colleagues at NBOA, as well as these authoritative sources:

• 33 million women in America have been sexually harassed in work related episodes; 95% report that a male perpetrator goes unpunished. ABC News/Washington Post poll
• -31%: Drop in typical net worth of middle aged (40-61) families from 1989-2013. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
• 42% of US adults live without a spouse or partner, up from 39% in 2007. Pew Research Center
• 23%: Percentage of women in technical roles at the top 75 Silicon Valley companies. Wall Street Journal
• $18,764: Average annual premium for employer-sponsored family health insurance coverage in 2017. Kaiser Family Foundation

As educators, we need to watch the rapidly evolving world around us, and think about how to evolve our learning practices accordingly.  I just got off the phone with edu-leader Jill Gough, who I wish we could clone into every school in the world.  The topic she will facilitate in our February 6 Sandbox is “Rise of the Co-Leader”, and we talked about how to get educators comfortable with “ditching the auto-pilot”. (Register here and join us for the best free PD on the planet.)

In a world where numbers like those above (and there are many more that you might want to add to this list) tell very real stories, we need to “ditch the auto-pilot”. These numbers don’t tell us what to do, but they are deserving of our thoughtful, civil discourse as we ask “how do we prepare our students and ourselves to address these challenges?”