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30th December 2005

Including cyberspace in official mission

posted in edtech, literacy, military |

The U.S. Air Force announced a new mission statement in early December 2005:

The mission of the United States Air Force is to deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests — to fly and fight in Air, Space, and Cyberspace.

This replaced the previous mission statement:

To defend the United States and protect its interests through air and space power.

Mission statements of businesses and other organizations may at times seem superfluous, but they are meant to direct the daily focus and work of individuals working toward a common goal. I think it is significant that US Air Force leaders have recognized the importance of the electronic environment to the security picture of the United States, and chosen to formally acknowledge this by including “cyberspace” in its mission statement.

I am wondering if schools should similarly acknowledge the much-changed informational environment in which we live by changing their core missions to reflect the importance of developing digital literacy? I think they probably should.

Large bureaucracies are inherently extremely difficult to change. One way leaders attempt to move members in a new direction is by adopting new mission statement language. This may acknowledge new things that are already being done, identify new things that need to be done (and are not currently being done at all or very well,) or both.

We need to prepare students for literacy in the 21st century, which is in many ways an extension of traditional critical thinking skills students have always needed. I am personally looking for organizations, models, and schools which have this ideal as a core goal. The Coalition of Essential Schools appears to be one organization which fits this bill well, although they are not explicitly focused on the development of DIGITAL literacy.

On this day..

This entry was posted on Friday, December 30th, 2005 at 4:27 pm and is filed under edtech, literacy, military. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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