Like an old beast of burden unsteady on its feet as it stumbles through its work, the American educational system buckles under the strain of a load it was never meant to carry.
Grade inflation waters down the value of a diploma and degree. Information is inexpensive or free and available in multiple formats. You can learn a language by just living where it’s spoken. Why, exactly, do you need a school?
“What grade are you in?” is the question students hear often. Their grade level defines them.
Grade-based education requires centralization of education. Centralization of education requires you to send your child out on a cold predawn morning in November to get on a school bus.
You’re so accustomed to the current education system, you’ve probably never really examined what exactly it is.
The era of grade-based education is ending. We need to recognize its enduring benefits so we can carry into the new era of education the best of the previous era.
The current education system didn’t always exist. Education has gone through several eras over the centuries.
Education morphs to fit the culture, use the latest technology, and fulfill the needs of society. Our current education system fits the culture, uses the technology, and fulfills the needs of 1950s society. That era has passed, it’s never coming back, and now it’s time for education to move on.
An assembly line produces high quantities of similar products at a low cost. That’s the strength of the assembly line. That is grade-based education. Given technology available today, there is no reason society cannot educate each person as an individual to maximize their potential. That defines the next era of education.
Return to Home
Continue to Evidence of the End of an Era
Continue to Education is Cheap, Proof is Expensive