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Future learning opportunities

The Christmas Open Hours at Kump Education Center brought back lots of happy memories of Decembers long ago. An exquisite toy train kept chugging around the track reminding us of the days when Elkins was a railroad town. A lovely homemade snowman collection in the library was a sentimental reminder of the days when Elkins had many deep snows each winter.

December is the time for nostalgia, but January forces us to think about our KEC vision: creating a brighter future for the next generation. Forty years ago most children had two parents who did what they could to give their children a good education according to the demands of the twentieth century. They never heard of global warming or artificial intelligence.

Even when my children were born, working computers took up a whole room, and few people expected to own a personal computer – much less a laptop or cell phone that would enable them to buy airline tickets from home and identify wildflowers in the woods. Digital devices have changed the experiences that children will have in adult life, and the next generation will need to be ready to deal with computer chips in many of the devices they will use.

Education is not what it used to be. Students still need good basic literacy and numeracy skills to understand what is on their screens, and they will also need critical thinking skills to be sure they are not the victims of scams. Automobile mechanics and fast-food service personnel will need to use computers on the job to make critical judgements with confidence that they have not punched in false information or made a foolish mistake.

What we need to remember is that the world has changed, and children in West Virginia do not have the luxury of having two parents with good jobs and good computer skills. There are many local children who come to school hungry without the opportunity to have done their homework online. During the Covid-19 shutdown, they missed several months in schooling, and their online learning was interrupted often. They were not able to earn average, grade-level test scores.

This year our Kump Center programming will emphasize developing basic math and verbal skills for 4th and 5th grade students. In “Targeted Tutoring” students will apply basic skills while solving hands-on problems. We hope that our efforts will support the goals that Dr. Dilly has for Randolph County Schools because we believe kids need basic skills to understand what is on the screens they see. We will use the computers in our learning lab to improve opportunities for our students.

Dr. Dilly is right to remind us that all teachers have to prepare students for a world we can only imagine. As much as we may love the traditions of the past, we need to remember that our children and grandchildren will have to deal with jobs that require skills that most adults may not have now.

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