A Global Analysis of Education in the 21st Century: What Kinds of Schools Do We Need Today? 9781495503573, 1495503577

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GLOBAL ANALYSIS OF EOUCATION IN THE 21sT CENTURY SELINA LESIAKJ PROSPER MUSH!

A GLOBAL AN~4.LYSIS IN THE 1 CENTURY What Kinds of Schools Do We Need Today?

A GLOBAL ANALYSIS IN THE 21sT CENTURY

What Kinds

Schools Do We Need Today?

Selina Lesiaki Prosper Mushi

With a Foreword by

Barry van Driel

Edwin Mellen Press Lewiston ~ Lampeter

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PubUcation Data

Mushi, Selina Lesiaki Prosper. A global analysis of education in the 21 st century: what kinds of schools do we need today? / Selina Lesiaki Prosper Mushi ; edited and with a foreword by Barry van Driel. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-4955-0357-3 (hardcover) ISBN-I0: 1-4955-0357-7 (hardcover) I. Education--Aims and objectives--Cross-cultural studies. 2. Education and state--Cross-cultural studies I. Title. II. Title: A global analysis of education in the twenty-first century. LB41.M978 2015 370.1--dc23 2015019315

hors serie. A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

Copyright

© 2015

Selina Lesiaki Prosper Mushi

All rights reserved. For information contact The Edwin Mellen Press Box 450 Lewiston, New York USA 14092-0450

The Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd. Lampeter Ceredigion, Wales UNITED KINGDOM. SA48 8LT

Printed in the United States of America

DEDICATION

To my beloved father, Lesiaki Prosper Matzinde Mushi, and my beloved mother Mkakyipati Oliva Ndepfiangao Maswai, whose genetic material I carry in my body and brain; and To my beloved sons and daughter, Andrew, Frederick and Regina, as always.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract

i

Foreword by Barry van Driel

iii

Acknowledgement

vii

PART ONE: STOP AND THINK GLOBALLY: WHERE IS EDUCATION HEADED?

1

Chapter 1: Education for What?

3

Introduction

3

Education From Childhood to Old Age

5

Struggles for High Quality Education

8

What is "High Quality Education"?

9

The Formal Education Systems of the 20th Century

14

Evplution of Formal Education

16

The Need for Catalyst Education

19

Methodology

21

Chapter 2: An Overview of Educ.ation in Industrialized Societies 23 Introduction

23

Access to Formal Education in the Highly Industrialized 24 Countries What Does "Access to Education" Mean?

29

Technological Advancements and Formal Education in Industrialized Countries

32

Efforts to Understand the Impact of Technology-Enhanced Learning in the United Kingdom 37 Integration of Technology in Education in East Asia

41

Integration of Technology in Education in South East Asia

45

Technology Integration in Formal Education in Canada

47

Technology Integration Trends in Formal Education in the United States

50

Overall Trends of Technology Integration inFormal Education in Industrialized Countries

52

Chapter 3: An Overview of Education in Less Industrialized Societies

55

Introduction

55

Traditional Education Systems

57

The Kilimanjaro Traditional Education System

59

Traditional Education Teaching Methods

71

Key Players in Traditional Education

76

Achievements of Traditional Education

76

Lessons From the Kilimanjaro Traditional Education System

81

Formal Education in the Less Industrialized Societies

85

Formal Education in Botswana

89

Formal Education in Ghana

93

Formal Education in Brazil

97

Formal Education in Argentina

103

Formal Education in India

107

Formal Education in Mongolia

110

Formal Education in Romania

113

Overall Trends of Formal Countries

in Developing 118

Conclusion

121

PART TWO: GLOBAL EDUCATION

IN

Chapter 4: Quality and Profit in

Education

Industry

127

Introduction

127

The Business of Education

132

False Con-elations

137

Total Revenues Minus Expenses in Formal Education

141

Nationally Funded Formal Education

143

Privately Funded Fonnal Education

145

Nationally Led But Privately Funded Fonnal Education

146

Conclusion

147

5:

Digital Race and Education

Quality

149

Introduction

149

Evolution of Leaming Technologies

151

Paradoxes Facing Learning in the Digital Age

155

Technology Use in Ea~ly Childhood Development and Technology Use and Quality

159

Primary Education

161

Technology Use and Quality in Secondary Education

165

Technology Use and Quality in Tertiary Education

167

Online Teaching

169

Technology Use in Catalyst Education

171

Conclusion

171

Chapte:r 6: "Use My Brain Not Yours" A Few Thinkers to Run the World

] 75

Introduction

175

The Technological Evolvement Pipeline

179

The 20th Century Thinkers

183

The Busy Skill Seekers

185

Dreamers and Innovators

187

Twenty-First Century Riders of Fast Technology

189

Perception of Complexities of the World as "Given"

191

Leaving the Thinking to Machines

192

Dangerous Ease of Manipulation

195

Conclusion

196

Chapte:r 7: Acquired Dependency Synd:romes Ac:ross And within Countries

197

Introduction

197

Developing Countries' Dependence on Industrialized Nations for Educational Technology

199

Conditional Dependency

200

Industrialized Countries" Dependence on 201

Developing Nations Interdependence Between Developing Countries

203

Within-Country Dependency

203

School Funding Practices

Industrialized

Countries

204

Status Dependency in Industrialized Nations

208

School Funding Practices in Developing Countries

209

Status Dependency in Developing Countries

211

Dependency on Flawed Assessment

215

Brain Drain

220

. Global Imbalance

2·22

Conclusion

223

PART THREE: PROSPECTS OF EDUCATION

225

AS A GLOBAL SYSTEM

8:

Industry is a

System

227

Introduction

227

Absorption

Education into Modem Technology

229

Absorption of Modem Technology into Education

231

Interdependency of Global Curriculum

233

Managing the Direction of Education Globally

239

Forces Underlying Education Worldwide

241

Technology Hurdles in Global Formal Education

247

Conclusion

248

Chapter 9: True Investment in Formal Education

251

Introduction

251

Investment in Lea.'11er Attitudes

255

Triggers of Needs Assessment

256

Investment in Learning Facilities

259

Investment in Teaching Personnel

261

Investment in Curriculum Planning and Implementation

265

Investment in Materials Selection and Development

270

Investment in Equipment

271

How are Students Faring in Higher Education Costs?

272

Investment in Learning Outcomes Assessment

277

Investment in Administrative Staff

280

The Role of Community-Owned Databases

281

Using Global Databases to Inform Investment Decisions

281

Conclusion

283

Chapter 10: Community-Owned, Globally Transparent Schools

285

Introduction

285

Students Need More Than Cocooned Education

289

Ignorance of Ignorance

295

Higher Education Transparency

296

Case

Community-Owned, Globally

Transparent Formal Education

297

The Catalyst School

299

COlTh."11unity

The Role of Catalyst Education in Society

301

Global Catalyst Education

303

Recruiting Committed Teachers

305

Early Introduction to Possible Careers

309

Challenges

3 12

Conclusion

315

References

317

Index

357

ABSTRACT This book analyzes the quality, challenges and prospects of 21 st Century education worldwide. Part One of the book raises key questions about the role and direction of education in industrialized as \-veU as developing countries. Part Two of the book addresses key challenges facing formal education. The challenges identified are quality versus profit-making in the education industry, interaction of quality and the digital race, learners' abilities to think critically, and dependencies. Part Three of the book highlights global prospects for 21 st Century education. I make a strong case for catalyst education, with locally owned, globally transparent schools.

As I start to vvrite fore\vord to this very interesting book I am sitting on the train I take to Amsterdam several times a week to work at the Anne Frank House. I cannot help but notice that where in the past people would be newspapers or chatting softly about the day's events, there is now total silence, disrupted by occasional 'ping'. The large majority of travelers are glued to their devices, ever looking up to see what is happening the 'real virtual world seems far more interesting and more compelling. """".>1U!';

I decide to also pull out my device and how the students at the University of Amsterdam are occupymg buildings because the profit motive has come to dominate at the University. Many non-profitable programs that have been in existence for many decades are being cut, especially foreign language programs. They simply do not bring in enough money.

In his report to UNESCO at end of century, former European Commission President Jacques Delors authored the report Learning: The Treasure Within. The report conceptualized what education and learning worldwide should look like in 21 Sf century. He identified 4 major pillars of lea.'11ing: Learning to know, learning to do, learning to be and learning to live together. His vision was a broad one. He felt it was critical to focus on ranging from globalization to knowledge society, social cohesion, inclusion, exclusion, gender equality, and democratic

participation. He already identified at that time the threats to quality education associated with technological advances, such as losing one's cultural identity and uniqueness and the ability to play an active part in the life of one's nation and local community. He also points to the risk of creating a society and education system that forgets the unique character of individual human beings. His warnings have hardly been heeded. The rapidly growing Global Educational Refornl Movement (GERM) is presently having a profound impact on education and is cementing the power of industry and market mechanisms on the future of education. The overriding assumption is that market mechanisms are the best vehicles for improving the quality of education; This goes for all levels of education. It brings multinationals and their profit motive into the classroom. This is nicely illustrated by the phrase on the wall of a New York City high school portrayed in the new documentary 'Tested' by director Curtis Chin. The phrase says: 'Learning is Earning'. The documentary depicts how standardized testing and the sole focus on earning has strengthened existing inequalities and created new inequalities. Quality education has been reduced to high scores on standardized tests (in this case the SAT) I get home from my train trip and my 6-year-old daughter is learning to read using Bug Club, eyes glued to the computer screen. She gets immediate feedback and catchy tunes keep her motivated. It all seems to be innocent, though I have my issues with how 'good'; and 'bad' are iv

presented. Perhaps I should not be surprised that the producers of Bug Club are a multinational company with 40,000 employees (or so they claim). They claim that their main goal is simple: to more of lives Their site mentions great projects they

seems to be acquiring a ehal tcnges identified and discussed are complemented by as a global discussed

book.

and

Selina Mushi goes beyond rhetoric, to the criticism of

11slng looks at the

negative

Detors, Jacques et Paris: UNESCO

vUl