Education, Education, Education
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Abstract
EDUCATION - what's it for? The question is as old as human thought caught in speech and is usually answered by adopting one of two extreme and opposing positions: functional versus personal development.Let's take the functional first. I have often heard television wildlife presenters talk of animals educating their young in the ways of survival.This view of education as a basic mechanism for fitting in/surviving is the mainstay of many stories of fiction. You know the plot: young girl/boy is recognised as different or as having a talent but personal, non-conformist/conventional education is regarded by the community as a luxury or irrelevance.Depending on the director, the story has a happy ending (Billy Elliot) or a sad ending (Kes) - but in either case, education as personal development is disconnected from the world of industry and commerce or even from mainstream society.Interestingly, there also seems to be an east/west cultural divide here in that the opponents of the functional model are more numerous in western society and portray their view (personal development is the purpose of education) as of greater worth/higher value.On the other hand, Japan and many other Eastern societies place higher value on functionality as a base for education.The two positions have further polarised into opposing ideological camps regarding the processes of teaching and learning.One arguing that conformity is important for societal development, the other that innovation and creativity are essential for the industries and societies of the 21st century.PersonalisationI'm not sure why this differential rating model has gained such widespread acceptance but remarkably it has - so how do we reconcile the two?One simple answer is to value both equally, but this is immediately denounced as too resource-intensive to be effective on a larger scale. The initial response of the education professionals is to ask for extra resources, smaller classes, more teachers and so on, in order to give equal weight to each child's individualised, life-relevant demands.However, I would wish to question this reaction and make a series of challenges.Firstly, there is the challenge to education professionals to move in the opposite direction to their natural inclinations.In the West, this means valuing industrial/commercial work (which may require conformity) as an essential good, not evil. In the East, this means valuing individuality, non-conformance and development of individual talent for its own sake.Secondly, there is the challenge to all professionals in industry, commerce and public sector activity to be more proactive in shaping education.In the UK for example, how often do we hear the Institute of Directors criticising state education? Do they have a monopoly in their views? The IoD is a worthy organisation but it only represents a small section of British commercial activity - what about other professional organisations? What about the trade unions?Thirdly, isn't it about time we started to challenge assumptions about resources? The cry is almost inevitable: "change in education won't work without more money." I have recently been in South Africa and heard the same complaint in township schools but with a little more justification than in some other countries.However, in all cases, there is a marked similarity in terms of lack of efficiency and effectiveness in using existing resources or thinking creatively about generating extra resources. …