Education For Tomorrow

Analyzes the way the future is dealt with in college and high school classrooms and calls for drastic changes in the way educators prepare individuals for life in the future.

Education for Tomorrow A Biocentric, Student-Focused Approach to Education Reform Michael Risku University of the Incarnate Word, USA and Letitia Harding University of the Incarnate Word, USA There are many books on the market which discuss indigenous ways of knowing, and bemoan western society’s seeming lack of interest in anything other than scientific fact-based knowledge. Equally plentiful are the writings of critical theorists who consider today’s public education system to be divisive, and manipulated by those in power to ensure that their children have the educational advantages needed to maintain the elite hierarchical status quo. Education for Tomorrow is unique in that it brings both of these approaches together first by examining the ways that indigenous people and women of all cultures acquire and pass on knowledge, and the deleterious effects that enforced Eurocentric systems have had on that process. The authors then turn to public schools to explore the influences, both good and bad, that today’s programs have on the distribution of opportunities afforded to all children in the United States. Finally, they offer suggestions for a revolutionary education system which highlights the need for all students to have the encouragement and freedom to look critically and rationally at their lives and at their relationship with the natural world. This can be achieved by looking back to the pedagogical methods of our indigenous ancestors, and forward to a time when all children, regardless of ethnic or socio-economic heritage, are taught in such a way that every aspect of their lives is addressed, nurtured, valued, and enhanced.

The ways in which vocational education can be strengthened to contribute most effectively to national education and economic goals are the subject of this book. It discusses changes in the economy and in the nature of jobs that affect the skills needed in the workplace; unemployment conditions, particularly among the young; and the educational implications of these changes and conditions. The book takes a critical look at vocational education, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the system, and makes specific recommendations for its improvement.

Good Teachers for Tomorrow’s Schools explores purpose of education, values in education and talents in education to map foundational, pedagogical and practical aspects of good teaching. It provides valuable research-based perspectives for scholars, teacher candidates, teacher educators and professional teachers.