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School of the Future: School Work vs Real Work


In this Twitter thread, Michael Dearing (@mcdg) asked this question about Facebook:

“What do you do when someone turns your product into a weapon?”

He notes that Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg earned her MBA from Harvard, where she would have encountered the famous Tylenol case study: when someone tried to weaponize Tylenol in the 1980s, Johnson & Johnson’s CEO pulled the product from the market until he could guarantee it was safe.

As Dearing goes on to say,

“I'm sure Sheryl aced that case on Extra Strength Tylenol and the biz history class. If I remember right, she aced everything at Harvard. And if ever you want to see the difference between school work and real work, it's right here. Real work is harder.”

What good will it profit it a student to earn all the A’s in the world, yet fail to develop her moral and ethical fiber?

How will she navigate a world of Accerelating Change if she has not practiced the art of discernment or cultivated her character strengths?

School work is (relatively) easy. Real work is hard.

Schools of the Past and the Present have focused on “school” work.

The School of the Future will focus on the real work of moral discernment and ethical decision making.

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