Ch. 6 Reflection

This chapter focused on the three different eras, apprenticeship, universal schooling and lifelong learning. It emphasized the changes in education from era to era.

Responsibility for education began with the parents in the apprenticeship era. For example, girls learned skills they needed from their mothers. When immigrants flooded the U.S., people worried immigrant parents would not teach their children English or proper American values. Because of this, it became the state's responsibility to educate children through universal schooling. This led to children holding differing opinions from their parents. Today, parents who home school their children are beginning to take the responsibility to educate their children back from the state; likewise, individuals participating in lifelong learning are taking on the responsibility of education themselves.

In the apprenticeship era, parents expected their offspring to follow in their footsteps and receive the same education they did. This supported the reproduction of class differences. With universal schooling, people wanted everyone to achieve the same level of success and have a shot at the American dream. The idea here was to socialize children away from their parents to foster cohesion and common civic values so that children would adopt American values and learn the skills they needed to do any work they chose, creating equality through education. In the lifelong learning era, people are making the choice to take responsibility for their own education.

The purpose of educating children was for religious salvation and to learn the skills needed for a job in the apprenticeship era. In universal schooling, people emphasized social cohesion on preparing children for a democratic society, separating religious and vocational content and stressing a common core of secular knowledge. With the access to knowledge we have today, the author thinks it is impossible for schools to teach students all the knowledge they need. Lifelong learning allows people to expand their knowledge even more if they choose. Education’s focus today is back on generic skills but the line between secular and religious content is blurred. I would argue that people may never know everything they want or need, but that teachers try to provide the best education based on student need, interest and ability as possible. Lifelong learning is an asset to people in that they can choose what, where and when they want to learn.

The teacher’s function (pedagogy) in the apprenticeship era included modeling, observing, coaching, and practice. Mass schooling altered the teacher function to include a small number of teachers lecturing to a large number of students. This new ear is pushing for more student interaction (which should also be true in schools).

During the apprenticeship era, adults observed learners and corrected them as they went along. Assessment was receiving feedback from the adult. With mass schooling, standardized testing became the best way to assess student learning. In the lifelong learning era, embedded assessment has emerged as the preferred way to assess—assessment occurs as the learner progresses through a task to provide support and determine if the learner has accomplished a predetermined goal (similar to the apprenticeship era).

The location of schools has also changed. During the apprenticeship era, students learned in and around the home. During mass schooling, students learned at school as parents worked outside of the home. Now with the lifelong learning era, students can learn just about anywhere they choose.

During the apprenticeship era, children learned from adults and were treated as helpers instead of students. No strong peer culture arose. In mass schooling, a separate peer culture emerged which reflected the opinions of adolescents and at times was opposite of adult thinking. As learning moves out of schools and youth interact more with adults through lifelong learning, the peer culture may weaken and a mixed-age culture may take its place.

Relationships have also changed over time. During the apprenticeship era, children learned from adults they knew well and had close, personal bonds with. During the universal schooling era, teachers and students did not know each other as well. Teachers had to establish their authority over students in the classroom from the beginning. Lifelong learning revives some of the relational aspects of the apprenticeship era but in a different way—over the Internet/on the computer.

Technology played a big role in shaping various aspects of education as you can see from the above description. In my classroom, I will be careful to think about these changes and the impact they have on various parts of education for students so that students can have the best environment I can provide. I will also include technology into how my students learn (and complete homework assignments) but I have not figured out all the details on that yet.