I really don't think unlearning is a word...

After browsing through all of the different elements of change that I've been faced with, and I have made some conclusions:

• The actual school part of education will have to be radically changed for students to actually be successful later on in life
  

This comes from one of the unlearning curves from Will's blog, the one that says: "We need to unlearn the idea that learning itself is an event. In this day and age, it is a continual process." Along with what Will says, the Toffler article makes certain points rather clear to me. Why should we be forced into the mold of having a nine to five job, because with different technologies, it isn't necessary for this to happen any more. Nor should it be necessary to go to school from 7-3:30.
The classroom needs to change to meet the technological demands of the time period that it lives in. True, up until recently most jobs were 9-5, so it would make sense for school to operate under a certain time frame. But our future generations need to adapt their own time frames to keep up with the current climate and public education has been extremely stiff in changing it's ways.

• School work needs to be done, not on dittos and paper, but working with other students outside of the classroom

"We need to unlearn the strategy that collaborative work inside the classroom is enough and understand that cooperating with students from around the globe can teach relevant and powerful negotiation and team-building skills".

Education needs to adapt because with all the advanced methods of collaboration available (even across the globe) chances are you will not be working by yourself with a No. 2 pencil and a worksheet to fill out. You will be working in real time, using your ideas and others' to create a cohesive work environment. Also, Friedman mentions about the future uses of Google in his book. By having this much information available all at once will make most educational faculties obsolete, or as Toffler would say, 'obsoledge'.

• Every student needs to have some sort of specialized education in a field that he or she is interested in

"We need to unlearn the idea that every student needs to learn the same content when really what they need to learn is how to self-direct their own learning."

Another idea that struck me while reading the Toffler article and Will's blog, there is no point for students to be learning subjects that they are not interested in. I remember being in certain classes that I had absolutely no interest invested in, and my grades suffered. Granted, I feel that there should be standardized subjects up until high school, but then there should be an almost collegiate level of variety of classes for students to study.

Toffler suggests that students should be able to visit and shadow members of various professions, which is an excellent idea for students in public education to have access to. Not only will students be happier, but they will have the opportunity to decide if this is the field that they really want to have a career in.