Lawton explores future Feb. 24

By JEWISH REVIEW

article created on: 2009-02-15T00:00:00

Catlin Gabel teacher Mark Lawton will present the findings of his year-long foray into the field of future studies and its implications for education on Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. in the Cabell Center on the school campus, 8825 SW Barnes Road. The event, this year’s Esther Dayman Strong Lecture, is free and open to the public.

Lawton will present developments of the near and far future, serious concerns, and worldwide trends in a dynamic, futuristic setting. His lecture will culminate with a provocative proposal to overhaul education by establishing future studies as the cornerstone of the high school program.

Lawton was one of the founding faculty of PJA high school. When PJA high closed, he was joined the faculty at Catlin Gabel. He is also a member of P’Nai Or, formerly serving as the congregation’s treasurer. He and his wife are involved in the Tikvah group at Jewish Family and Child Service and he served on the board of the JFCS in San Francisco.

Lawton’s interest in future studies began three years ago when talking with students about the study of history, he asked, “Why not study the future?” His curiosity led him to the Media Lab at MIT (motto: Inventing a Better Future), where creative people envision and build for the future in a playful academic environment; to the New Yorker conference “Stories from the Near Future,” where he heard speakers including Rahm Emanuel (now President Obama’s chief of staff) speculate on what is to come; and to the annual conference of the World Future Society, a collection of futurists, forecasters, visionaries, and planners from all over the globe.

Lawton said that in today’s fast-paced world, students must learn critical thinking skills, and that they must apply those skills in forecasting and preparing for the dramatic changes that are coming.

“If you create plausible scenarios for the future, your organization will be ready to adapt, no matter what happens.” said Lawton. “And if you are forward thinking, you can shape the future you want instead of just responding to what happens.”

In addition to teaching mathematics at Catlin Gabel, Lawton is director of community service and coach of the girls’ varsity soccer team. He earned a master of arts in liberal studies through the great books program at St. Johns College, and an ME in electrical engineering from the University of California-Berkeley. He earned two bachelor of science degrees from Syracuse University, in engineering and television production.

The Esther Dayman Strong Lectureship in the Humanities was created in 1987 by the Catlin Gabel School board of trustees as a living memorial to the human and academic values of Strong, principal of the Catlin-Hillside School from 1944 to 1958.

Catlin Gabel is an independent, non-sectarian, progressive coeducational day school serving 730 students from preschool through 12th grade. For more about the school, visit www.catlin.edu.