Wednesday, February 23, 2005

"Technology and the Re-Visioning of Education" - 1 of ?

On page '11' Kellner says educational reformers will be challenged as to "whether education will be restructured to promote democracy and human needs, or ... serve the needs of business and the global economy."

Why is this a dichotomy? In a truly democratic (and dare I say capitalist?) world, businesses and the global economy exist to serve human needs, because they are direct outgrowths of human needs.

That is followed by this statement:

"Today, however, intense pressures for change now come directly from technologyand the economy and not ideology or educational reformist ideas, with anexpanding global economy and novel technologies demanding innovative skills,competencies, literacies, and practices."

Is this another way of saying that changes in the way that society prepares youth to deal with the real world should be - or just are - driven by the needs of real world itself, rather than philosophers, theorists, ideologues? What a concept....

Still reading, and trying hard to keep an open mind. The author is of course a UCLA professor with an endowed chair. I just work at a community college, and I'm happy that my chair has armrests.

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