“Disruption” seems to rule the day, writes Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister in his latest column. Quoting Tech Crunch, McCollister notes that disruption is all around us in our digital world.
“Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles,” the magazine recently reported. “Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content, Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate.”
McCollister says the kind of disruption that has upended the private sector needs to shakeup the public sector, too.
“Why does our government and public education resist, instead of embracing the idea of thinking different—and innovating to offer more choices and conveniences to customers?” he writes. “It is what the consumer expects. It is the power they are demanding—and deserve.”
In business, McCollister notes, you either adapt, innovate, and respond to the customer and the marketplace—or get left behind.
“Resistance to change among the establishment and protecting ‘the way we’ve always done it before’ is sinking sand,” he writes. “We never thought we would see Sears closing stores or Kodak and the printed Encyclopaedia Britannica disappearing. But it happened. The market changed. The rules changed. Technology changed. Disruption can cause a paradigm shift. We all must deal with it, including our government and public education.”
McCollister praises the efforts of East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent Warren Drake to keep the public school system from becoming irrelevant.
“He discussed ideas recently at a forum with Mayor Sharon Weston Broome. Drake has met with parents in southeast Baton Rouge (as will Broome) in an effort to create solutions to address these customers’ concerns,” McCollister writes. “He spoke of the New Advance Placement Capstone diploma added at Baton Rouge Magnet High School here, making it one of 1,000 select schools in the world to offer such courses on critical thinking and research. (The only other school in Louisiana offering this is Lusher Charter School in New Orleans.) Drake also mentioned the future opening of The Career Academy, which will teach medical, computer science and manufacturing, and will tie into the Automotive training center, a collaboration with Baton Rouge Community College. These are ideas that can disrupt the status quo.”
Also in the column, McCollister voices his longstanding support for school choice and his desire to see Betsy DeVos confirmed as the secretary of education.
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