Twenty-sixth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

There are vastly different perspectives when it comes to the mission of higher education. Ouchi (2003) asserts that the way to successful school transformation is found in “good data from standardized tests” (p. 139). Wolk, however, decries our current system and its focus on testing arguing that we are preparing robots and workers, not human beings. Wolk (2007) demands that “We must deeply question the schools and the curricula we have; we must ask what it means to be educated and what it means to be human” (p. 650). We need to go much further than university being a place to memorize facts and situate a school’s mission in terms of preparing students to live responsibility and able to work toward the common good for all. This paper will focus primarily on education making a social difference. The aim will be on the type of people we are educating. What is more important to the health of a democracy than educating caring citizens who will make a difference socially? Interestingly, Wolk (2007) asserts that “It certainly seems that the more ‘civilized’ we become as a species, the more brutal we become as people. What does the 21st century hold in store for us? Will we survive? What are schools doing to improve our chances?” (p. 653). This presentation will approach higher education from a multidisciplinary perspective with these questions in mind.