The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School

Recd the book, as described. Very happy.

Finally! A book asking "What is education for?" not just "How can we do education better?" Postman gives a balanced treatment full of great insights. Just take a look at the beginning:Pg. ix - "I began my career as an elementary school teacher and have not for a single moment abandoned the idea that many of our most vexing and painful social problems could be ameliorated if we knew how to school our young. You may conclude from this that I am a romantic, but not, I think, a fool. I know that education is not the same thing as schooling, and that, in fact, not much of education takes place in school... To the young, schooling seems relentless, but we know it is not. What is relentless is our education, which, for good or ill, gives us no rest. That is why poverty is a great educator. Having no boundaries and refusing to be ignored, it mostly teaches hopelessness. But not always. Politics is also a great educator. Mostly, it teaches, I am afraid, cynicism. But not always. Television is a great educator as well. Mostly it teaches consumerism. But not always."There's a big misconception today about what schools are. Most people believe that school = education, and that good grades/academic success = being well educated. But high schools today don't focus education; rather they mostly focus on allocating economic opportunities to those who are capable and eager to obey. And this is an important and remarkable function of schools; otherwise economic opportunities would be determined by inheritance and family connections, as in past generations. But I agree with Postman that this aspect of schooling has become dangerously overemphasized in our society; to the point where learning about society, the original "end" of education, has become nearly driven out of our classrooms. That's the danger of the whole No Child Left Behind and emphasis on standardized test scores. Education has to do with understanding how society works. This can hardly be said of too many schools today.

Postman chose this title to purposely have a double meaning: that we'll have an end to successful public education if it doesn't have a meaningful end, or purpose, to it. In the first part of the book, he suggests some purposes that don't work: consumership, economic utility, technology, multiculturalism. He then suggests some overriding narratives that could work:• "The spaceship earth"—viewing the earth as a planet we all share and thus need to take care of, beginning in our own communities.• "The fallen angel"—an admittedly religious metaphor that recognizes that fallibility of humankind and our thinking; Postman notes that scientists, most of all, understand this: today's science is just today's understanding and can change tomorrow.• "The American experiment"—"Can a nation be formed, maintained, and preserved on the principle of continuous argumentation?"• "The law of diversity"—to recognize the "significant artistic, intellectual, and social contributions from diverse ethnic groups," not to raise one group above another but to enrich us all by gathering the best of ideas from all cultures.•"The world weavers/the world makers"—"how we use language, how language uses us, and what measures are available to clarify our knowledge of the world we make."

Postman has seen what can happen to schooling and society when there is no transcendent narrative to guide us. As the Book of Proverbs warns: " Where there is no vision, the people perish". He offers possible narratives that may serve to unify us as a nation.

This book is unmistakably a work by Neil Postman! He gives a very interesting view on how our culture and education are structured with the basis in what he calls a "narrative" stemming from the need to believe in some gods, so you can see a lot of allusions to the idea of the mono myth here. Postman also gives clear suggestions for how the system of education and the approach to teaching can be modified in order to turn around the imminent end of education and make it into a positive constructive force for the future. There are a lot of crossovers with "Teaching as a Subversive Activity" which Postman co-authored.

I don't necessarily agree with everything Postman says but he does have a way of bringing out the important issues. Before we can reform education, we must have a firm idea of what it is we want education to accomplish. Postman points out many reasons (narratives) for education (schooling) some obvious, some not so obvious. This book is well written by a knowledgeable figure in education. I recommend this book for anyone who thinks schooling our young is important, no matter what the reason.

For me it was just too dry and rambly. I am not a deep philosophical this ker though so it is not my cup of tea. Those more educated and those who love to read might enjoy it.

In the manner for which Neil Postman is so well known and loved, this book outlines the impact of social / media practices on our understandings of School and Education.This is an important read for anyone involved in education -- K-12 or higher ed -- in the 21st century, and particularly for those of us struggling to advance the warrant for the importance of humanities education.