The New School

How the Information Age Will Save American Education from Itself

Encounter Books, 2014

15 min read

10 take-aways

Audio & text

What's inside?

Why K-12 and undergraduate education are a bubble due to burst.

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Background

Recommendation

Law professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds offers compelling evidence that the American system of education – at all levels – will experience massive change in the near future. Public education in the US hasn’t changed much since the late 19th century. Yet inflation-adjusted costs – to taxpayers, parents and students – are skyrocketing. Despite massive investments in education, high school graduation rates and literacy levels are evidence of stagnating or deteriorating results. In an era of fiscal austerity, near bankrupt state and local governments, out-of-control student debt, and frustrated stakeholders, something has to give – and soon. Inevitably, some start-up enterprise soon will stumble onto the killer application for learning, and that will change everything. getAbstract recommends this short, repetitive but insightful treatise to teachers, professors, parents, students, education administrators and educational entrepreneurs.

Summary

“Assembly Line” Education

America’s structured, standardized K-12 system of education evolved from local, informal one-room schoolhouses where lone teachers shared nonstandardized curricula with students from ages six to sixteen. As early as the American Revolution, local school systems produced high rates of social and political awareness and literacy, especially among males.

Yet the Industrial Age economy demanded structure and conformity – a cheap, scalable way to teach the general population basic reading, writing and arithmetic, as well as how to follow instructions in the assembly line economy. The Prussian school system, established in the 19th century as a model of precision and conformity to state rules, curricula and processes, was just what America needed to have in order to produce obedient factory workers. Creative teaching and random curricula gave way to classrooms with neat rows of chairs, students divided by age and grade, and one-size-fits-all learning programs centrally mandated for all students.

Universities and colleges in the US fell under the influence of German models. American colleges were originally based on the English system, with...

About the Author

Glenn Harlan Reynolds teaches law at the University of Tennessee. His political blog Instapundit is among the most influential and widely read American blogs.

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P. M. 8 years ago

The idea I found most compelling was that of the rise and significance of online education. From my vantage, this has already taken hold and will continue to grow in utility and accessibility, particularly in the higher-ed space. While I'd argue there is no substitute for hands-on learning in certain applications, the sheer accessibility of online education will drive continued adoption.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds