In the world of education, we have more learning options and career pathways than ever before.
What we lack is words for them all.
We use 'online learning' to mean both the carefully planned and researched academic programs offered at colleges and online K12 schools and the rushed chaotic, emergency programs our children experienced during the pandemic. We have overlapping definitions for internships, co-ops, and apprenticeships. We use outdated and now loaded words like vocational and CTE for everything from wood shop class to innovative skills programs.
Our lack of words translates to lack of opportunity.
Language is important because through it we understand the world around us. If we don’t have a word for a concept, we don’t consider it an option, we don’t search for it on google, and we don’t evaluate it next to other opportunities. For all intents and purposes, it is invisible to us.
If we don’t have the shared words to learn about these nuances and innovations, there are so many opportunities we don’t know exist. We don’t know to search for them, ask about them, or explore them for our families.
If we don’t know that there are options to get certifications and internships while still in high school, we have families looking for choices outside traditional 4 year college degrees and seeing their only alternative as working full time and stopping education altogether.
If we don’t know that engaging and effective online K12 schools exist, we have students feeling trapped in bullying situations that make them feel unsupported and unsafe in their local in-person school.
If we don’t know that options exist to help our children explore career options and interests in high school without closing down college access or narrowing their options, we have students exiting high school without knowing what paths will best support their goals and how to understand the relative ROI.
Words matter. In a world where we find information via internet searches and social media algorithms, they matter even more.
These words are gateways to opportunities, options, and ownership of our learning and career journey. If we don’t recognize our current lexicon limitation, we continue to close these doors to the very families and students we are trying to serve.
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