THE FUTURE OF LEARNING NOT EDUCATION

No social institution has been less affected by technological advances and the requirements of modern economy and global citizenship than education. Over the past century and a half, farmers, bankers, industrial workers, doctors businessmen have all been forced to radically change the way they carry out their professions. By contrast, teachers from the 19th century would have little difficulty in adapting to the environment of a modern classroom because they would see very little difference from what they did and how they did it. Education was designed to train, condition and discipline children in order to make them useful members of industrial society. It is a 19th century response to a 19th century need. The latter part of the 20th century witnessed the ongoing malfunction of this model when trying to respond to the economic social and cultural needs of the Space Age. What is required is a transformation from 19th century industrial models of education to 21st century strategies for learning. This lecture outlines the assumptions and development of modern education and suggests alternative strategies for learning.