The Central Challenge of Our Time
Most people seem to think that preparing children to serve the economy is the primary goal of education. Indeed, many seem to think that it's the primary job of childhood. Adults obsessively ask young children what they are going to be when they grow up. Our policy makers fret about the jobs of tomorrow, parents worry that their preschool choice will ultimately impact their child's university options, and few people question the competitive grooming that takes place in schools as the children are forever graded like beef and ranked like show ponies. We hear the voices of business titans echo in buzz words like "grit" and "accountability." Some corporate types even see themselves as customers of schools, with your child being the product they will squeeze and compare before finally purchasing at the lowest price they can negotiate.
What we ignore is that our children don't exist to serve the economy. Indeed, it should be the other way around: the economy should be serving we the people, but as more and more of our nation's wealth has been transferred to our wealthiest citizens over the last several decades, we the people have grown poorer, less powerful, and more dependent upon these modern day feudal lords.
I don't spend a lot of time thinking about the future of the CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: The Central Challenge of Our Time