"Rethinking Education" Ch. 6 Reflection

Chapter 6 of "Rethinking Education" talks about the different eras of education and the changes that have come along with the shift in how we are being educated. In the early era of education it was the duty of the parents to educate their children and prepare them for their future career. When the responsibility switched from the parents to the state, the state was now in charge of educating the students and determining which content should be taught. We are now trying to switch the responsibility of the state back to the parents. With advanced software, technology is now able to teach the students and parents are now able to decide which software to purchase for their child's academic needs. In the early era adult learners were taught at home from apprenticeship where the student observes a family member at their job. In the second era young students learned by didacticism at school and now in the third era mixed-aged students are able to learn anywhere by using interactive technology.

As a future teacher I will take in consideration the SCANS report of 1991 which states that students must know five core competencies to be prepared for work in the 21st century which include identifying and organizing resources, interpersonal abilities (working with others), acquiring and using information, understanding complex interrelationships (systems), and working with a variety of technologies. In my teaching I will stress all of these competencies as well as a number of others. I will also encourage my students to use a non-traditional way of education that works for them such as buying different software or videos for learning. I will also stress the fact that if they are interested in something there are a number of different ways to learn the content by using technology or different resources- learning never ends, we are always learning. Education is always changing and is always being improved by technology and as a future teacher I will need to be able to adapt to the changing world of technology and education.