Chapter 6 Rethinking Education

Chapter 6 of Rethinking education talked about the three eras of education. They explained in the beginning paragraphs that there were three eras of education and currently we are nearing the end of the third one. The first one was apprenticeship era, then came the universal schooling era, and now we are entering the lifelong-learning era of education.

The authors discussed when Horace Mann and his colleagues took over the practice of teaching children from the parents and elders in the community. These parents and elders were originally given the job of teaching. Now, in today’s present lifelong-learning era, responsibility for education is shifting away from the state and back to the parents. More and more parents are taking control of the education of their children by buying them educational videos and computer software.

When Horace man and his colleagues took over the practice they tried to bring all students up to the same page in education. They wanted a common high level of success. Before this practice parents had always wanted their children to grow up the same way that they had, and learn the same things that they did. The authors believe we are reverting back to this practice. Teenagers and young adults are taking on more responsibility for their own lives and education. They often reject what school has to offer, choosing to pursue instead whatever interests them or what they think is necessary to advance to their career. The chapter then went on to talk about the content that the students were learning. Originally the parents decided that students should learn content that the parents wanted them to learn for example if the parents were farmers then they wanted their students to learn about the land. Then in the industrial revolution the educators wanted to prepare students with knowledge that would allow them to do whatever they wanted in the world. Finally the authors say that in today’s era it is becoming impossible for school to teach people all the knowledge they might need as adults. It seems as though they may need to choose what appeals to them and pursue the education required for that career.

The chapter also talked about the shift from assessment. In the apprenticeship era the students were observed to see if they were succeeding in their education. In the schooling era standardized test told the educators how smart the students were. Today these too methods of assessment are merging. The students are still tested but with technology the educators have better tools to observe students and their progress through the content.

The chapter continued on comparing the three eras. The talked about how with technology schooling is returning to the home, less personal bonds are made, and left us with a cliff hanger of a topic. The authors ended this chapter by saying that with all these awesome tools at our fingertips and the way that education is depending on technology, what if students refuse to use and learn from technology?

I thought that this was an awesome chapter. It’s awesome to see how the different methods of education have changed through the years! In some ways it seems that we are returning to the apprentice ship era. In others we are making our own era.

As a future educator I will remember the different ways that education has gone through and realize that it is changing all the time. What teachers thought was the right way to teach students 100 years ago is wrong today, and maybe in 100 years the way that I taught students will be grossly outdated. Who knows?