“What is school for?” asks Seth Godin. His initial answers on the matter, while interesting and meant to spark discussion, I think reflect a larger problem: The ideas floating around about education are still pretty antiquated. Despite all our access to new technologies, the fundamental assumptions of education are unchanged.
Seth presents a variety of ideas about “What is school for?” but most seem to fall into three categories:
- To build and maintain a society with certain standards among the citizenry.
- To socialize the masses and keep them down under The Man’s thumb.
- To fulfill oneself.
Forget a revolution of the proletariat; what we need is an education revolution. Shouldn’t there be a different way of thinking about education? A 21st century reason to go to school already? But what might that be?
