H
ow does a school which prides itself on being ahead of the curve on digital learning and preparing a cosmopolitan pupil body for the globally connected lives they will lead address that challenge? Kingham Hill was one of the first schools in the UK to appoint a digital literacy specialist; it was also right at the forefront of restricting the use of devices and giving our boys and girls a sense of proper balance in their lives.
KHS enjoys an idyllic ‘bubble’ in a scenic, rural Cotswold setting. When smartphones were banned during the School day some years ago, we noticed that almost immediately pupils were enjoying that setting more; breaktimes were noisier, with the sound of children running around the extensive grounds, chattering happily in social spaces, or simply tossing a Rugby ball to and fro on a pitch. Teenagers arrived for lessons with happy, animated faces, sometimes red with perspiration, but always enlivened by social interaction. Of course they complained about it; they were developmentally eager for that dopamine rush provided by social media, which the Netflix documentary explains so well. As the adults in the room, we were glad that the landscape wasn’t littered with addicts’ silos of individuals glued to their screens, and making no progress in all the social cues and skills that are so vital to professional success.
DIGITAL LITERACY
What is also vital to professional success is digital literacy: the ability to communicate effectively and manipulate information using IT software, as well as navigating the opportunities and challenges of life online with wisdom and character. That curricular programme, overseen by our lead specialist, is a key part of the daily timetable for pupils from 1st Form upwards (Year 7 or 6th Grade in other currencies). Each pupil has their own laptop or Chromebook, enabled by the IT department on a network that safeguards them from all the various cyber threats that might impede their education or personal development.
Equally important in that education is the cultivation of virtues, through the School’s ‘Equipped to Flourish’ programme. Surfing the net, exploiting smart technology, and creating digital content would have been science fiction to all but our immediate ancestors, and yet ancient character education is as relevant as ever it was. Discernment, judgement, balance and ethical behaviour are more, not less, vital, as the consequences for professional and personal trajectories are more immediate and transparent than ever they were. Technology should be a wonderful servant; it can be a terrible master.
COMPUTER SCIENCE
Computer science is another area where we see that blend of ancient and modern in harmony, rather than in conflict. Coding is a form of language, and a very useful one too, of course! It sits quite naturally in a classical tradition which values word and number; language and order. It teaches the ability to think logically and critically, and provides lucrative vocational avenues for those who learn to do so. Interestingly enough, the helpful nature of restriction and balance is articulated in Michael Lewis’ 2014 book Flash Boys, which describes the antics of Wall Street firms frantically seeking to outdo each other in tradingconnection speeds, given the vast profits at stake. In the book, Lewis asks himself the question of why it is and was that such a great proportion of top Wall Street IT programmers are Russian. Avoiding controversial political answers(!), his own thesis is that by and large, they learned their programming in the difficult Soviet era of the 1980s. They had the benefit of a rigorous mathematical education, but extremely limited time on public computers to test their coding, in contrast to the luxuries of Silicon Valley. Paradoxically perhaps, conceptualising using pen and paper forced them to be sharp, innovative, and precise.
| Think Global People & Relocate Magazine |
relocateglobal.com | 31
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