Carole Davis

Concepts of a Learning Society

Instructor: Dr. Reitumetse Mabokela

EAD 860 Summer 2006

Course Description: We have entered the Knowledge Age. Successful evolution in this age requires that we become a learning society. We must be learning all the time and add learning to all we do. This course explored how we are evolving as a society and what a useful societal mission might be. We focused our strategies for learning to reflect the technological revolution that is transforming our world and enhancing our intelligence.

Selected Course Work (with instructor comments at the end): Analysis and Critique of Runaway World: How Globalisation is Reshaping Our Lives by Anthony Giddens

In Runaway World, Anthony Giddens holds that advances in technology and communication are rapidly revolutionizing our world with far reaching effects into economics, politics, and our cultures. The way individuals, families and societies perceive and react to these changes affects us all as we try to navigate an increasingly interconnected world. Giddens explores with intelligence and fairness how we can collectively adapt to globalization by balancing traditions with cosmopolitan attitudes while consciously managing the new, often unknown risks that we are creating. Giddens contends that globalization is most strongly influenced by new levels of communication and that its instantaneous nature alters the very

texture of our lives (p.11). Globalization is not just an ‘out-there’ phenomenon but brings the rapidly changing world directly into our communities and homes. For instance, education is quickly being altered as it moves beyond the traditional classroom to include computers and the internet, with predictions that in the future most courses will integrate both on-line and face-to-face components (Maeroff, 1995, p. 282). Mary Catherine Bateson also contends that traditional school learning no longer makes sense in the context of our new reality, and that learning should be obtained through more active participation just as it is in our everyday lives (Bateson, 2003, p. 198). Giddens documents how the rapid spread of information throughout the world also fundamentally interconnects our cultures. For instance ‘Television Revolutions’, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, can be instantaneously seen elsewhere and inspire similar unrest and protests (p. 14). Giddens sees this free flow in communication as an important catalyst in the spread of democracy and free markets, where an authoritative approach does not work in a global society’s open framework of ideas (p. 73). While recognizing that the free market system and democracy are imperfect, Giddens clearly sees them as the best opportunity to move forward in this new era. Though others may not agree that competition is a fair basis for the betterment and advancement of society (Bateson, p.189), it is reasonable to assume that the widespread success of entrepreneurship will continue to propel the global economy. Gene Maeroff maintains that

businesses have characteristically been more active in promoting progress than traditional institutions simply because their survival demands bolder action, and he holds that there is nothing evil about the nature of a free market system (Maeroff, p. 125). Giddens purports that critical reasoning has been the defining factor in shaping modern industrial civilization, and while he supports cosmopolitan ideals in addressing the chaotic changes wrought by globalization, he also acknowledges the need for the tradition. Giddens supports that progressive views can co-exist with acknowledged traditions that are needed for continuity and form to our lives in chaotic, changing times. The evenhandedness of Giddens argument that progressives must maintain respect for beliefs that others hold sacred adds strength to his contentions that most differences can be addressed with ‘a tolerance and dialogue…guided by values of a universal kind’(p.50). However, Giddens does make an artful distinction between traditions that add color to our lives and hold together local culture versus those that turn inward and shut out new ideas altogether. An enormous problem that has arisen with globalization is that some view incoming differences as an invasive threat to their own culture. Though he recognizes the desire of fundamentalists to return to and maintain social, economic and political traditions, Giddens rejects authoritarian views that lack dialogue with differing views (p.48). Others concur that the rise of terrorism against the West is due to individuals being ‘alienated, frustrated and uncertain of their prospects in a fast-changing world’ who use twisted versions of tradition and

culture (Zuckerman, 2006). Though Giddens sees fundamentalism as a natural reaction to perceived threats, he pegs global terrorism as part of the dark side of globalization (p.xvi) and maintains that open-ended discussion is needed to come to solutions, using compromise and negotiation (p. xviii). For such dialogues to take place, it is imperative that we strive for societies with flexible minds and critical thinking skills that recognize more than one view. This vision has plenty of support from social and educational reformers who agree that in a world of multiculturalism and constant changes, we must create a society of reasoning life-long learners (Bateson, p. 212). It has also been widely supported that in a global, competitive economy, it is essential that everyone be multi-faceted and continually learning in the workplace (Merrow, 1993) and that we should strive for a Learning Society which values life-long learning and discovery while being socially inclusive and valuing cultural interconnections (Kellogg Commission Fourth Report, 1999, p. 17-18) Critical thinking skills are also necessary to sort and reason through the vast amounts of raw information we continually receive. Giddens notes that while the media is a powerful democratizing force in today’s global society, it also tends to distort public dialogue by trivializing and personalizing issues (p. 78). It’s been advocated that we move away from simply being an Information Society to a Knowledge Society of deeper analysis and understanding (Kellogg Report, p. 17) or possibly go even further to a Creative Society, where knowledge is encouraged to be used in

ways with a new entrepreneurial spirit to come to unique solutions (Resnick, 2002, p. 36). A shortcoming in Giddens’ vision is that while he acknowledges our world is more deeply engaged in science and technology than ever before and advocates more dialogue on these issues (p.34), he does not go on to call for advancement in basic education in these areas. Many recognize that equity in access and fluency in science and technology is a central issue if we are all to participate actively in a global society (Kellogg Report, p. 27, Resnick, p.33). The National Research Council, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, has strongly advanced the need for a scientifically literate populace with in-depth standards for K-12 education that promote students ability to reason, think creatively, make decisions and solve problems. (National Research Council, 1995) Giddens also seems to have misplaced concern over the seeming state of uncertainty in science today, noting that we can no longer can rely on ‘experts’ or ‘accept’ the findings of science because scientists now so frequently disagree with each other (p.31). I would argue that debate is an integral part of the scientific method where it may take decades before a consensus is reached on developing issues. Science may seem more confused because virtually everyone now has access to the ambiguities of raw data, compounded further by the fact that the media often sensationalizes many serious topics for entertainment value. This further underscores why we need to purposefully develop critical, scientific thinking in basic education, to allow us to engage intelligently in public discourse on

the issues that are rapidly developing around us. It is, in fact, an important objective of the NRC vision of science literacy that K-12 students reflect on the history of science as a human endeavor with conflicts on ideas and personalities. By seeing the development of science and technology as ongoing, changing enterprises citizens will be better prepared to critically reason through scientific, personal and social issues. To assist in analyzing the problems of globalization, Giddens suggests that instead of looking at enemies and dangers, we view our challenges as risk management (p.34) He states that risk is the mobilizing dynamic in a society undergoing change and articulates how we are shifting from dealing primarily with external, natural risks (such as disease, natural disasters) to man-made, manufactured risks (global warming, quickly changing cultures). He supports that we can make disciplined analysis of risk by utilizing the model of insurance, weighing the probabilities and uncertainties of manufactured risk. However, once more, he does not take the additional step in saying that we need to take aggressive action to ensure our students receive the basic mathematics education needed to understand what a probability is. This is an especially pressing issue in the US where students are falling so far behind other countries in mathematics and science (Daggett, 2002) that American universities have become heavily reliant on students from abroad to fill out graduate enrollments in science, technology and engineering programs (Maeroff, p. 12) Giddens contends that no matter where cultures and traditions meet, we must maintain a ‘democracy of emotions’, an open of discussion of issues

that gives mutual respect to others principles and ideals (p. 64). Giddens maintains that a more civic culture is needed with less emphasis on ‘shell institutions’ that are relics of old systems of interactions, such as nationstates (p. 77). He sees more effectiveness in transnational democracy like the United Nations and the European Union to avoid the chaos that is currently forming our global society without a collective will (p. 80). Others have also called for new forums of dialogue to address problems such as global terrorism, that ‘conventional standards of government conduct will have to be rethought’ and that we should ‘advocate a special international commission to build a consensus for protecting civilization’ (Zuckerman, 2006). Giddens contends that more institutions which allow us to monitor the risks of technological change along with more public dialogue on science and technology can reduce the problems that will inevitably develop with globalization (p. 35). The choices we face are changing our lives at all levels, from government to our communities to our families, and Giddens states that ‘the balance of dangers from scientific and technological advance, and other forms of social change too, is imponderable’ (p. 32). This only emphasizes the importance of the need for a flexible Learning Society that is able to navigate the realm of science and technology and adapt to increasing changes in our cultures.

References Bateson, Mary Catherine (1995) Peripheral Visions: Learning Along the Way. New York: HarperCollins. Daggett, William R. (2002) Jobs and the Skills Gap. Rexford. NY: International Center for Leadership in Education Giddens, Anthony (2002) Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping our Lives. London: Profile Books. Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities, Fourth Report (1999) Returning to our Roots: A Learning Society. Washington DC: National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. Retrieved July 08, 2006 from http://www.nasulgc.org/publications/Kellogg/Learn.pdf Maeroff, Gene I. (2003) A Classroom of One: How On-Line Learning is Changing our Society. New York: Palgrave MacMillian. Merrow, John (1993). Starting Over, The Merrow Report. New York: Learning Matters Incorporated. Retrieved July 11, 2006 from http://www.learner.org/onesheet/series99.html National Research Council (1995). National Science Education Standards. Washington DC: National Academy Press. Retrieved January 17, 2006 from http://books.nap.edu/html/nses Resnick, Michael (2002) Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age. Retrieved July 08, 2006 from http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cr/pdf/gitrr2002_ch03.pdf Zuckerman, Mortimer B. (June 19, 2006). Editorial: Doing What’s Necessary. U.S. News & World Report, 140 (25), p. 60 Instructor Comments: Carole,

It was such a pleasure reading your essay. You have presented an coherent essay in which you effectively integrate various readings to present a well-argued paper. Great job! With your permission, may I use your essay as an example of an effective critique? Dr. Mabokela