Building a New "Paradigm"
The Dinner Menu: The Purpose

  

 

 

"The claims on which we currently based our secondary schooling, served a world that many of today's adolescents do not wish to aspire to and is not real for so many of them (Steinberg,1996). The problem of engagement will become the greatest problem to face our schools, and this is further underlined when it is recognised that non-engagement is a major adolescent malaise. Engagement is in the hands of excellent teachers and inspiring teaching."

John Hattie
The Knowledge Wave Conference in New Zealand 2003
http://www.knowledgewave.org.nz/forum_2003/speeches/Hattie%20J.pdf

The Purpose of Public Education

Being "intelligent" is all very well, being able to access and use vast information and communication resources is useful, being able to be critically literate is impressive and being able to synthesize and distill new knowledge is powerful - however, all these traits were shown by a small group of people who flew two planes into two large buildings, killed thousands of people and changed the world forever. The purpose of education must extend beyond purely clinical outputs; it must contain an ethical underpinning and promote values that we can aspire to as a community especially as society increasingly take on a more and more non-sectarian philosophy, for in our every-busy lives where else are our children going to obtain an education in what it right and moral.

 

"We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character--that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. The broad education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge of the race but also the accumulated experience of social living."
"The purpose of education is to provide each member of society the capability to contribute to the collective goals, (philosophical, idiosyncratic, practical and social), of that society where these goals are based around the accepted values of the community and that those goals and values are based on the historical and cultural wisdom of that community".

There was a time when the "use-by date" for knowledge was counted in centuries but now it can figure in days and months; even moments, especially for scientific and research based knowledge. That we can potentially know more now than ever before is beyond doubt but access to knowledge and the capability to process, manage and apply it is not equitable.

In order to make this socially equitable, the essential competencies to build understanding when it is required, together with the capacity to be a lifelong learner, must be available to all.

  • Three hundred years ago the first modern education paradigm was brought into play through the invention of the printing press, and knowledge became more available as the price of "knowing" reduced considerably and accessibility to information increased dramatically. The first education paradigm enabled everyone to "know".
  • In the 21stC the second modern education paradigm is emerging where the cost and accessibility of knowledge is such that we are overwhelmed by it; so much so that as educators we can see the potential not just for everyone to have the possibility to "know about the world they live in" but that everyone has the potential to understand the world they live in.

Suddenly the purpose of the dinner is not just to consume food for survival but rather to appreciate the food, the company and enjoy the event and to leave fully satisfied: intellectually and emotionally.