Rol Fessenden wrote, in part:
>Replying to LO9300 --
>
>I have to challenge again the notion that there is something wrong with
>educating people for work.... The concerns we frequently hear are vague
>connections to preparing people for the assembly line or training welders or
>some such thing. This is indicative of how far we have strayed from
>understanding the nature of most work in the United States....
>
> We need people who can be thoughtful, responsible citizens.
I certainly agree with Rol's pont that there is a poor understanding of the
nature of most work in the US. I think there is also a poor understanding
of the nature of citizenship in the US.
The purpose of schooling in my opinion should be three fold, to wit: First,
to prepare students for the responsibilities of citizenship--a tough task
alone; Second, to prepare them for productive work; Third, to enable them
to become lifelong learners. Everything I know and believe constrains me to
believe that is a correct and proper mission for schools, and that the level
at which students must be educated for those roles is much higher than
generally understood. If anyone has the time to check this site out
http://www.sccoast.net/hcs/high/ch/index.htm (click on philosophy and goals)
they will get an idea of what we are working towward at my school. We have
way to go, we are ironically enough, struggling to become a learning
organization--systems are not redirected in a day.
One final point. The SCANS competencies are set forth at a high level for
workforce skills, and they are just as usefrul for citizenship and lifelong
learning as they are for work.
Chip Brown
***************************************************************************
CHIP BROWN
HOME: WORK:
brownc@sccoast.net Conway High School
2229 Buttercup Lane 2201 Church Street
Conway SC 29526 Conway SC 29526
Phone & Fax 803-248-6321
803-248-5153 cbrown@ch2.sccoast.net
--brownc@sccoast.net (CHIP BROWN)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>