Disruptive Proactivity

http://twitter.com/lesteph/status/1394833962

Out of interest, if you were watching ‘Us Now’ (http://www.usnowfilm.com/) or have seen before, what are the lessons for FE & Govt? #atn09

School children now have the same tools as that tradicionatlly active group – university students. I was fortunate to see Us Now with a diverse group. One of the things that came out was that what the film was covering wasn’t seen as that innovative by them; it was seen as natural.

University communities have a tradition of doing this, because of the nature of the networking tools, interactions between groups, and copious free time, which they have had. However, that’s now available to younger groups using Facebook etc.

What happens when there’s an issue which disproportionatley affects them: little brother.

There’s lots of talk about cuts in future budgets; and there’s no talk of ring-fencing education. What happens when the Government (or whichever persuasion) goes up against a load of networked passionate school children who quite like that their school stays open, and work with the other kids just like them down the road to have their school stay open too. They have facebook etc, haven’t yet learnt the “conventional” rules, and have very little to lose, and even more free time than most students.

Steph asks “What are the lessons for Govt?” I have no idea, but I’m pretty sure I’d not like to be in that department at the time when the kids win, or worse, lose. Politics is used to pandering to large groups of voters and limit those who don’t – the Elderly or the Daily Mail – that’s going to have to end at some point.

And that’s good for democracy.