“There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune,
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat
And we must take the current when it serves
Or lose our ventures.”
Shakespeare

The study of the future as a timely and dynamic addition to curricula is gaining momentum. Futures Studies is defined as “an academic discipline about the process of change.” Educators in all roles and at all levels of learning are paying increased attention to its development and contributing to its rise. The familiar claim that twenty-five to thirty years is usually required for new educational research and theory to be translated into action in school settings seems to be giving way to a more immediate focus. Publication of Alvin Toffler’s “Future Shock” in 190 has raised public consciousness to an awareness of the convulsive nature of change in our time. Educators are responding with a greater sense of urgency to the need for a major shift in their perceptions of education priorities. “Back to Basics” is being rephrased to “Forward to Balance.”

Read the original article as a PDF here.

(Editor’s Note: The following article by community faculty member Berenice Bleedorn is the first in what we hope will be a continuing series of articles and reports from faculty about events or issues in their disciplines, and topics of interest to non-traditional educators. We hope the articles encourage discussion and exchange of ideas among faculty, and provide a medium for faculty members’ works. Articles should be typed, doublespaced, and mailed to the Office of Learning Resources, attention Susan Rydell. Please keep length to within three pages.)

“The formula for the future is not in the stars, but in ourselves.” This was the recurring theme of the program on board the S. S. Universe traveling from Baltimore to Nassau for the Shipboard Conference on Globalistics: A Shipboard Conference on Preparing Educators for Alternative Futures, June 15-19. Odds are that Metro community faculty, by reason of their service to an alternative in higher education, have particular interest in the ideas presented and exchanged there.

First, a note about the setting. The S. S. Universe, affiliated with the University of Colorado, is designated for educational purposes by the Seawise Foundation. It operates year-round academic programs, including world cruises for Semester-At-Sea credit. Mr. C. Y. Tung directs the program. He and the ship’s crew are Chinese. They provided complete and gracious service to the 200 educators and government officials who participated.

Read the original article as a PDF here.

Attachment: Description of proposed presentation …. Berenice Bleedorn

Universities representing alternatives in higher education are in a particularly strategic position to futurize learning at a post secondary level. An example of a University providing that “missing link” between education and life that is often not observable in traditional  institutions is Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota, an Upper Division, competence-based institution granting a B.A. degree.  The Futures Studies Cluster in Metor’s Arts and Science Center has evolved from a single course to a program offering a choice of Futures courses each quarter.

Read the original article as a PDF here.

“If anything is important, it is the future. The past i gone and the present exists only as a fleeting moment. Everything that we think and do affects only the future.”
…Edward Cornish

Educators and parents concerned with appropiate schooling for Gifted and Talented children and youth are recognizing the potential of Futures Studies as a new and exciting academic experience for all students, and most especially for bright, active minds. In spite of the importance of the future as the place where we will all be spending the rest of our lives, education and society have traditionally paid little deliberate attention to it. Now rapid and radical advances in perceptions of the condition of “Spaceship Earth” and its human family are bringing a sense of urgency to
the need for developing abilities to image, predict, and influence the future. In the words of Arthur Clarke (1973) … “We are living at a time when history is holding its breath, and the present is detaching itself from the past like an iceberg that has broken away from its icy moorings to sail across the boundless ocean.”

Read the original article as a PDF here.