The Future of Education Can Be Found in The (Really Distant) Past

Andre Plaut:

It's time to retire the blackboards and go back to the town squares.

Over the last 30 years, the United States has increased education funding dramatically: from around $11 billion to $77 billion (source: Dept. of Education) but it seems like we're no closer to figuring out a solution to bettering the quality of educational.

Nothing about education is straight-forward, even its origins. Education "began either millions of years ago or at the end of 1770" says Dieter Lenzen (source: Wikipedia) and yet we're still asking some fundamental questions about how to best approach it: how do you measure it? How do you scale it? Is it a right? Is it a privilege? How do people learn best?

The education field hasn't changed much since its supposed origins in 1770, but technology has finally begun to shine its spotlight on those who seek a learning experience. The result has been a bloom of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), online learning tools, and so forth. But, I'm not sure if those hold the answer.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 23, 2013 12:57 AM
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