Future of Higher Education in the U.S.
Implications
Defining education as primarily vocational training and avoiding important factors such as intercultural learning would mean that students in America would not learn to adapt to the changing world. As our world becomes more diverse, it becomes important that students are taught about other cultures and the way others behave through the education system. This would prepare them for global citizenship that seems likely in coming years as our world open up to other cultures and different way of thinking that come with it (King). Therefore, it would be a problem if all education is focused only on developing students as skilled and well-learned workers. It is highly important that students are developed and made capable of understanding different cultures and values associated with them to better adapt to the globalized nature of the future societies (Lynch).
America has been embroiled over a debate on the best way to educate their students. In the last three decades, secondary and elementary education has been exposed to several educational fads, from whole language and new math to cooperative learning and outcome based education. Every new theory gets administered as the healing elixir for the currently failing public school system to help students in American to rise to the same heights as several foreign students in the measures of international achievement. Due to these changes, the definitions of education have been changing for the past three decades to help modify and improve the failing public education system in the country (Klein).
STWO Act was passed in the year 1994 by the Congress for addressing the failure of the primary, secondary and tertiary (vocational) education systems to help young adults graduate with marketable skills and knowledge. The STW (School to Work) philosophy is not a distinct program, which provides vocation education to the students. The proponents of the STWOA claimed that for a student to achieve higher educational achievements, it is important that they need to be educated about the way our world works. They claimed that every subject needs to include opportunities for the students to learn and relate the knowledge to real life (Miller).
Earlier students were churned out of schools with theoretical knowledge of the subject and the world, but could not apply the knowledge to real world. Therefore, the government took action and passed laws and regulations that ensured the inclusion of vocational skills to ensure students are capable of applying basic skills and knowledge to real life situations. But, the problem is that all education cannot be related to vocational education. Schools cannot be made to use their federal funding for narrowing the focus on workplace skills. In America, using failing vocational education to deliver quality education for the non-college-bound students is no reason for imposing and infusing workforce education across the secondary and elementary education system (Miller).
Therefore, the definitions of education have changed over the past few centuries in this country, as it rose from the depths of developing knowledge from the books and research to developing skills and knowledge through adding vocational education to the education system (Gray). As time passes on and our society becomes diverse, it becomes clear that the education system needs an overhaul that helps students understand different cultures and values that are around them in a globalized society. There have been changes in the education definitions in the country for past few decades as the education system in place has continually failed to deliver.
Works Cited
Gray., Peter. A Brief History of Education. Psychology Today. Pschologytoday.com. 20 August 2008. Web. 1 April 2016.
King., Richard. 10 tips to promote global citizenship in the classroom. The Guardian. Theguardian.com. 9 November 2012. Web. 1 April 2016.
Klein., Joel. The Failure of American Schools. The Atlantic. Theatlantic.com. June 2011. Web. 1 April 2016.
Lynch., Matthew. Promoting Respect for Cultural Diversity in the Classroom. The Huffington Post. Huffingtonpost.com. 6 January 2012. Web. 1 April 2016.
Miller., Virginia. The New Definition of Standards in American Education. The Heritage Foundation. heritage.org. 4 April 2001. Web. 1 April 2016.
