The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School

Because American society operates on the unspoken assumption that schooling is for preparing students for well-paying jobs, our educational system is falling apart, declares Postman (Technopoly), a New York University communications professor. In a wise and provocative essay, he argues that public schools subtly reinforce worship of technology, economic utility and consumerism. He outlines several alternative ``narratives'' that would give public schools a compelling reason to exist and that would motivate students to learn. These include ``Spaceship Earth,'' which casts humans as caretakers of a vulnerable, interdependent planet; the ``Law of Diversity,'' teaching how art, science, politics and customs have been vitalized through the intermingling of cultures; the ``American Experiment,'' portraying U.S. history as an imperfect crucible of democracy; and ``Word Weavers,'' the social and moral dimensions of language and its central role in transforming the world. Postman's visionary, perhaps somewhat utopian blueprint for transforming our schools sets a new standard for debate. (Sept.)