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The 21st Century
What Is 21st Century Education?
The Global
Classroom
Media Literacy
Social Action for
Kids
Service
Learning
Standardized Testing
The Purpose
of Education
Smaller Learning
Communities
The 21st Century
The 21st century was ushered in by the greatest
technological revolution in history.1 Technological advances,
immigration, globalization and a ubiquitous media culture define the landscape
of the new millennium. How should schools respond? What should
schools, classrooms and curriculum and instruction look like in the 21st
century?
The first consideration should be to rethink the
purpose of schooling. What purpose do or should schools serve?
Phillip Schlechty offers simple but excellent metaphors for viewing the purpose
of schools throughout the history of the United States.2 He
charts four stages, or varying purposes, for schools in the U. S. The
first stage he refers to as the Tribal Center, comparing the community of early
America with its fledgling democracy to a tribe. The main goal was to
maintain and preserve the beliefs of the community - preserving the hard won
democracy. The second stage was the Hospital. It was during this
phase of education in America that the schools began to care for their students
in matters concerning health and happiness in addition to their formal
education. The next stage was the Factory. The purpose of schooling
during this time period - the Industrial Revolution - was to prepare students to
become passive workers in the factories.
According to Schlechty, it is time to proceed to
the next stage, the Knowledge-Work Organization, for schools of the 21st
century. In these schools students should be prepared to function
successfully and happily in the society of the 21st century, fully participating
as citizens of their country and of the new global society. Unfortunately,
most schools in America are still operating under the Factory Model.
How can schools restructure to meet the needs of
students in the 21st century? What are their needs?
Douglas
Kellner states:
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Put
in historical perspective, it is now possible to see modern education as
preparation for industrial civilization and minimal citizenship in a passive
representative democracy. The demands of the new global economy, culture
and polity require a more informed, participatory and active citizenship, and
thus increased roles and challenges for education. Modern education, in
short, emphasizes submission to authority, rote memorization and what
Freire
called the "banking concept" of education in which learned teachers
deposit knowledge into passive students, inculcating conformity, subordination,
and normalization. These traits are becoming obsolete in a global
postindustrial and networked society with its demands for new skills for the
workplace, participation in new social and political environs, and interaction
within novel forms of culture and everyday life.3
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We must
structure our schools in such a way that the policies, procedures, curriculum
and instruction are aligned to life in the 21st century. Technology and
immigration bring the requirements for multiple literacies in a multicultural and global society. Schools must
be concerned with the preservation of democracy, and ensuring that all students
receive a proper education. There are many social issues related to the
role of schools, and these will be presented in this web site, along with
additional resources for more in-depth study. Some of the ideas, programs, issues which
must be addressed as we design our 21st century schools are as follows:
Also, please see Anne Shaw's article,
What Is 21st Century Education?
1. Kellner, Douglas. New Technologies/New Literacies: Restructuring
Education for the New Millennium. http://logosonline.home.igc.org/kellner.htm
2. Schlechty, Phillip. (1991) Schools for the 21st Century -
Leadership Imperatives for Educational Reform. Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers
3. Kellner, Douglas. New Technologies/New Literacies:
Restructuring Education for the New Millennium.
http://logosonline.home.igc.org/kellner.htm
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