Book Review of Marching Off the Map by Tim Elmore with Andrew McPeak

Marching Off the Map. Poet Gardener Publishing. By Tim Elmore with Andrew McPeak. 2017. (in association with Growing Leaders, Inc.). ISBN: 978-0-9966970-6-4

“Kids these days.” Pretty much every generation that has ever existed has complained that the generation before them does not understand them and the generation after them is a bunch of hopeless, entitled layabouts. And we are really good at slapping labels on generations or lumping them into stereotypical behaviors. Boomers are bad at technology. Gen Xers are the sandwich generation. Millennials are entitled and lazy. Gen Zers are digital natives.

At first glance, the beginning of Marching Off the Map seems to start in this vein: it covers key similarities of people in Generation Z, the generation of students starting college as of 2018. According to the main author, Tim Elmore, these students are anxious and stressed, want to make a difference in the world, are very good at getting information (but not necessarily at evaluating or synthesizing it), use technology to disengage with real life, and tend to be skeptical, but childish. Although all of us can point to someone born in Gen Z that does not fit this profile, Elmore uses this list of characteristics as a basis for the key point of the book.

Here it is: our current education methods, particularly those used in K-12 education, are not effective. They do not engage students and they do not help students understand the relevance or real-world application of what they are learning. Overall, commonly used strategies, such as lectures and multiple-choice testing, are not effective at helping students learn and evaluating their learning, respectively. Moreover, Elmore states, they are not helping equip students to enter the workforce career ready. Many students are deficient in critical thinking and problem-solving skills. They can find information easily, but do not know how to critically review it for accuracy and bias. They have little resilience and persistence in the face of hardship. These problems, Elmore says, are a by-product of both our culture and our educational system. Parents are too busy, detached (e.g., on Facebook all evening), or overprotective to teach children these skills, and the K-12 educational system is so focused on performance and results that it promotes memorization rather than deep thinking and learning.

All of us have likely run into the problems described, whether it was with our students, our own children, or both. So how do we address the problem of students who are underprepared to think and learn in the real world?

This is where the title of the book comes in. The “map,” Elmore says, is the pattern of things we have done before. Just like mapmakers in previous centuries had to leave the old maps behind and create new maps as they explored new territories, we as educators, mentors, and coaches of students have to let go of outdated educational methods and create new methods that are effective. These new methods need to account for our current society, particularly for the fact that students have easy, constant access to information and are often overwhelmed by it. Instead of focusing on information transfer, Elmore states, we should focus on guidance. Why is this information important? How can we tell if it is valid? How can we use it in the real world?

The remainder of the book elaborates on these themes and suggests a few strategies for changing the way we educate students. There are several good analogies to help the reader understand why these strategies can be effective. For example, Elmore compares adapting teaching strategies to recent cultural changes to sailing and dealing with the wind to get where you want to go regardless of what the weather is up to. Elmore points out that adaptation is not the same thing as adoption. Note that sailors still get where they need to go; they are adapting to the weather, not letting it push them aimlessly. Similarly, instructors should adapt what they teach to incorporate current culture and events for relevance, but not at the expense of the core knowledge and skills that students need to learn.

Another interesting point that relates to adaptation versus adoption is timeless versus timely information, values, and skills, and the methods of presenting them. Many skills, such as the ability to work in and lead teams or communicate ideas clearly, are timeless: they are just as important now as they were hundreds of years ago. But we need to be aware of the timely aspect of information, values, and skills, or what is most relevant in today's context. For example, today's students are almost definitely going to communicate with people all over the world in real time. They need to learn how to communicate efficiently and effectively in web conferences, as well as how to manage projects when the participants are spread out through multiple time zones. These skills were not nearly as necessary even 20 years ago as they are today. Thus, we need to adapt our teaching of the timeless skill of communication to the current challenges students will face in the workforce.

I have to admit that I was fairly disappointed about the lack of detail in what educational strategies were proposed for improving learning. The suggested strategies were pretty much what is popular now in more progressive education circles: flipped classrooms, laboratory exercises rather than lecture, problem-based learning, explaining the application and relevance of the content, and being a “guide on the side” rather than a “sage on the stage.” The book is also a bit light on substantive content and gets fairly repetitive; the chapters describing Gen Z and recent cultural shifts felt like a longer version of the introduction.

Despite that, there was one point made in the book that really resonated with me. Elmore states that most children are told they can be whatever they want to be if they try hard enough. They should do what they love and the money will follow. This is not right, Elmore says. What about someone who loves 17th-century literature? If they get a degree in this topic, there are not many jobs available for a person whose primary knowledge set is books from the 1600s. Instead, student should ask themselves what talents and skills they have, and how they can use those abilities to solve current challenges that the world faces.

I love this point. Knowing that you are addressing an important problem gives you purpose. It gives you drive to get things done and to learn things you need to know to solve the problem. Everyone needs a purpose; it makes you feel like you are doing something worthwhile. And you are more likely to be persistent during adversity with a purpose driving you. I am going to make a point of telling my students about this concept at the start of each course.

Overall, this book was worth reading to me because it helps organize the thoughts I had about why current students face the challenges they do. While many of the strategies suggested were not new to me—I already use most of them in my classes now—it was nice to see support for using those strategies. Finally, the point about focusing on finding a career path that lets you use your skills to solve current, significant challenges is an excellent one, and it is worth repeating to anyone who is deciding on a career path or wondering if they have chosen the right career path.

Full disclosure: I am a Millennial, albeit an older one. I have trouble paying attention to anything I do not care about, to the point where I actually do not hear what is said to me. I can figure out pretty much any software you put in front of me very quickly. I prefer email to phone calls. I love reading on my iPad and have trouble reading paper books because I do not like holding them open and I try to swipe on pages to turn them. And I have a yoga mat in my office so I can still do my Pilates routine when I have very long days at work.

Maybe there is something to those stereotypes after all.