Assignment 1: 21st Century Learning And Progressive Education

The educational system in the United States was originally developed using concepts from around the world, created using ingenuitive ideas from countries such as China, Japan, and Korea. However, as the United States quickly moved into position as the leading country for state-directed educational standards, America looked less and less to the systems of other nations and more into how we could improve what was locally and currently being applied in education. Consequently, an improved type of education instruction was officially launched in 2010. These new state standards, practically titled Common Core, were declared to focus on developing a child’s skills in reasoning, problem solving, communication, and competition (Conrad, et al. 52). While the standards are professed to be an extremely practical and beneficial method of teaching today, there are issues which have recently surfaced and raised some concerns. The Common Core State Standards are emerging as the subjects of a provocative controversy in society today as they prompt discussion on global economic efficiency, nationwide academic standards, and the ultimate well-being of school-age children.

The school must discipline creative thinking, as it will play a crucial role for the future. Bronson and Merryman report in their article that an

Cathy Davidson is an English and humanities professor at Duke University. She has published over twenty books, many dealing with technology and education. In “Project Classroom Makeover,” she argues that the way the United States teaches students is not preparing them for the skills needed for success in the twenty-first century. To illustrate her point, Professor Davidson presents the historical development of the educational system in the U.S. She differentiates “high standards” from “standardization” and stresses the need for education to offer rigor, relevance, and relationship (201).

Teaching in the modern age has not adopted any of these techniques which leads to ill-suited high school graduates without the proper preparation for the in-demand jobs. For the educational system to change, it must teach the necessary skills needed for students to succeed in the real world. However, since the modern-day learning system still just stresses skills required for “middle management and factory jobs,” there is not much new in the modern age of schooling because it just borrows on old techniques and reuses them at a time in which they have become obsolete (60). Thus, although technology seems to rebrand the learning protocols of America, it serves as an element that both facilitates learning and a façade that takes away from the true reform needed to overhaul the anachronistic system.

John Dewey’s Progressive Learning Theory is defined as any various reformist educational philosophies and methodologies since the late 1800s, applied especially to elementary schools, that reject the rote recitation and strict discipline of traditional, single classroom teaching, favoring instead more stimulation of the individual pupil as well as group discussion, more informality in the classroom, a broader curriculum, and use of laboratories, gymnasiums, etc. in the school. It is essentially an umbrella theory for many theories that have contributed to what is known as, Progressive Education.

For the past decade, our country’s education system has reached a flat line in results. Studies show that the United States is the number one country in education spending in order to improve our results, but standardized test scores have plateaued. During President George W. Bush’s term, he initiated a program titled “No Child Left Behind.” No offense to President Bush, however his educational initiative is the most ironic title due to its produced results. So far, no state in our country has reached one hundred percent proficiency in mathematics and language arts and the system has gotten deficient and is failing the millennial generations. Education is a key component to success in our fast-paced society and our system needs to change, for

Education is a very powerful tool in the twenty-first century; the power of knowledge allows an individual to advance his social and economic status. “Project Classroom Makeover” by Cathy Davidson demonstrates the necessity of a customized education system in modern America while explaining why traditional learning is slowly reversing true American values. Since the late 1800s, the United States of America has developed a reputation of “rags to riches” because of the success stories of John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, and Andrew Carnegie. The belief that anyone can achieve the American Dream turned the United States into one of the most omnipotent countries in the world. However, recently, the federal government has treated education secondary to homeland security, welfare, and health care. Other countries such as Korea, Finland, India, China, and Switzerland have surpassed America in education, technology, and math and science rankings. Cathy Davidson’s, “Project Classroom Makeover”, exhibits that the United States has reached its pinnacle and the education system is slowly failing millennials due to its inability to adjust its curriculum to accommodate the ever-changing technological age.

“How Are Educators Responding? The New Zealand Ministry of Education dines five key capabilities for living and lifelong learning listed as: Thinking, using language, symbols, and text Managing Self-Relating to others, and Participating and contributing” (Crockett). These required skills can also be found in Common Core. Common Core is what a student, K-12, should know in math and English language arts when they transition to each grade. These standards are frequently found in the college and career world worthless. There is a gap in between what college instructors want from their students because of what Common Core taught. College instructors, according to ACT Inc., found that students in middle and high schools are mainly summarizing author's ideas and analyzing source text, but college instructors want students who can “generate sound ideas - a skill applicable across much broader contexts” (Strauss). This is directly related to what 21st century student’s skills should be. “So, according to the folks we’ve asked, the consensus is that students need transparency-level skills in these areas: Problem solving, Creativity and, Analytic thinking, Collaboration, Communication and, Ethics, action, and accountability” (Strauss). Each particular skill has a reason for being on this list. Problem solving is for situations that we cannot conceive right now. In addition, those who are skilled in this area are more likely to not be watched by the higher up more than others. Creativity is something that Common Core diminishes. If you ask a student what creativity is most responses will be, “expression” or “uniqueness”. This is very important to the first skill because thinking outside the box can help find much better solutions. Collaboration and communication go hand-in-hand. Work forces of the future will all be connected through all

This paper reviews four important trends in our educational system today across America and discusses the impact of these trends on our future educational system. We live in an ever evolving world with constant changes that are affecting every aspect of our lives daily. Our educational system has not been immune to these changes and shouldn’t be since these changes and our ability to adapt to these changes will determine our future academic success and our place in a global society.

In Brave New World, education is a way to separate each caste system. In this book learning and knowledge is a sign of rebellion and free thought. This is because the society is based off classical conditioning and behaviorism. Ivan Pavlov, the psychologist Aldous Huxley based his book off of, was an extremely famous classical conditioning psychologist who taught dogs how to solve salivate at the sign of a bell. This relates to the education tactics used in Brave New World, because only certain people were allowed to read or have access to certain knowledge because they were being conditioned to perform a certain task.

Technology has changed! In high school over the last fifty years there was no computers, smart phones, or even tablets. Today we have many different types of technology: computers, laptops, tablets, smart phones, smart watches, smart televisions, smart boards, microwaves, etc. Most of the technology that we have is used in the classroom. According to the article, “In the Future, Diverse Approaches to Schooling” the author described the different types of schools Conventional, Online, Hybrid, and Broker of Instructional Experiences. Also in the article, “The Role of Technical Education”, the author described students going to a vocational school to learn hands on training. While some differences between technology in the past and technology in the present are noticeable, the similarities are pronounced.

Imagine living in a world where one cannot think freely. Everything a person knows is predetermined by the government; any further knowledge is nonexistent. Any like or dislike that a person has is due to conditioning, not by their own choosing. People aren’t thoughtful individuals; they’re robots, programmed to the government’s liking. Everyone is simply a cog in its machine. Now, many folks might take comfort in the belief that this could never happen in real life. Unfortunately, the dystopic society depicted in Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World is shaping up to quite possibly be the future of the world that we know today.

Learning is a lifelong endeavor in which people experience continually: learning new information and techniques every day. The world revolves around the nurturing and growth of future generations. Each person repeatedly develops and accepts new strategies to accurately exude knowledge into adolescent lives. Over the last decades, the United States has developed new teaching practices to assist in the education for young minds. Using documents such as the Common Core Standards, established in 2001, or the Every Student Succeeds Act, established in 2015, has aided in the updating of school curriculum by requiring districts “to put state standards into place so all students have access to high-quality content and instruction” (Academic). The

Over recent years, The Internet has progressed into such a factor as source of intelligence as well as a great marketing tool that is capable of reaching almost any user. We now see that the Internet sensation has become a source for collecting suitable info or knowledge and changing data into lucrative results at a much faster rate for many organizations and individuals in this progressive era of the twenty first century.

We live in a country where an educational requirement should be learn about foreign cultures and to be conversant in different languages because of the high percentage of immigration to United States. In the article: “How To Bring Our School Into The 21st Century” the authors talk more about how to improve different types of things, i.e to modernize, improve book to make them shorter but with value content and among other things. Among the different point of view of the authors knowing more about the world helps prepare young people for college studies, international experience, and active participation in civic life. I believe this is really important because United States have a lot of diversity in languages and cultures and is kind of important