Catching the Knowledge Wave? the Knowledge Society and the Future of Education 论文

摘要

Catching the Knowledge Wave? The knowledge society and the future of education Jane Gilbert Wellington: NZGER Press, 2005 (244pp). ISBN 1-877398-01-3. To ride or not to ride? Over the past decade one particularly powerful catch-cry--'the knowledge society'--has become a popular refrain amongst politicians, policymakers and the educational bureaucracy, not only in New Zealand, but in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia as well as in an increasing number of European and Asian states. Just what lies behind the words, however, is considerably more problematic. Jane Gilbert's very readable introductory book attempts to clarify the various shades of meaning suggested by this enigmatic epithet, and to provide some answers to the problems and issues it poses for schools, teachers, parents, and the general reader. Gilbert begins the book in an engagingly provocative manner, drawing upon a 2001 book by American journalist Michael Lewis provocatively titled, The Future Just Happened. In his book, Lewis presents two case studies of boys who used the internet to cross the boundaries of learner and teacher, thereby challenging existing forms of educational authority. Citing these two case studies, Gilbert introduces what becomes in effect the central thesis of her book. This thesis has it that we are now in the midst of a major social and intellectual revolution typical of post-industrial societies. Gilbert contends that New Zealand educators should see the changes encapsulated in this and in other events, not as a threat, but rather as an opportunity to rethink what we currently attempt to do in our schools. She is particularly attracted to postmodernism, a world view that has been described as a response to the apparent erosion of traditional oppositions between such formerly well-defined entities of left and right, local and global, private and public, high and low cultures. Moreover, as an educator and former teacher of wide experience, Gilbert is particularly receptive to the view that different ways of thinking are both challenging and replacing older, seemingly more rigid ways of thinking, with potentially huge ramifications for schools. For educators not to acknowledge all this, she asserts, is to repeat much of the history of educational development in New Zealand and elsewhere. For those who care to heed the lessons, this history is replete with examples of how well-intentioned policy initiatives failed because they did not take account of what the world beyond the school thought and acted upon. Noting that much of what French philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard predicted about knowledge becoming a commodity has since eventuated, Gilbert contends that what distinguishes contemporary knowledge societies from those that simply value knowledge in the traditional sense is that, in the former people, tend to see knowledge in economic terms as the main source of future economic growth. Noting that many educators have resisted this development, often seeing it as an assault on more traditional assumptions about what schools do, Gilbert argues that the education system needs to respond more positively to the challenges confronting it. This need not be done uncritically but through ensuring that we retain the original key purpose of state-funded mass education--the provision of equal opportunity and access. She supports inclusion but correctly in my view, resists the tendency of some postmodernist educators to uncritically embrace cultural relativism. Gilbert is also critical of those who argue that education is primarily an individual benefit to be funded by families, holding instead that an educated population is a public good. Moreover, in advocating a fresh approach to educational problems, Gilbert astutely acknowledges the complexity of New Zealand's educational past. As she notes, much of the impetus for a publicly funded mass primary education system in New Zealand came from decidedly mixed motives, including the need for an educated workforce respectful of hierarchy and authority. …