Everything George Lakoff says here about the importance of framing in our conversations about Climate Change is just as true about the importance of framing in our conversations about Reforming the US Education System.

We’re wasting our breath unless the ways we speak about using Web 2 tools to support informal and formal education connect with people’s fundamental values. Values like truth-telling and practicality and the importance of following our pioneering spirit.

 Authenticity and freedom of choice aren’t “bleeding edge” values. They’re grounded in the very heart-and-soul of what it means to be an American. Doing what works in ways that were easiest for most people to access was at the heart of the original movement to create public education.

What Lakoff has been writing and speaking about for 30 years needs to be applied now to integrate social media into US “classrooms,” whether they’re in public buildings or private homes.  The American way of life is already a polar bear on a fast-melting iceberg in the sea of globalized economics.  Using Web 2 tools to teach and learn can slow down this meltdown…  It’s time to change our thinking about them from “new” to “necessary.”  They are the life preserver we’re throwing ourselves.