Education concepts and applications

¶ … National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and the American College Personnel Association reports that in terms of today's school curriculum "knowledge is no longer a scarce or stable commodity. Especially in science, engineering, and technical fields, knowledge is changing so rapidly that the specific information may become obsolete before a student graduates and has the opportunity to apply it." (2004) There are more in the way of those providing knowledge as well as the many educational offerings for all ages of learning, and is reported to have "diversified the structures, purposes, and outcomes of education." (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and the American College Personnel Association, 2004) Not only is knowledge plentiful it is simultaneously inexpensive due to the Internet and has "created a broad space for competitive claims about the legitimacy and veracity of information." (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and the American College Personnel Association, 2004) Education in the 1950's and 1960 has faced many challenges of today's educators although many fail to realize that this is the case. For example, today's teachers are faced with a disproportionate number evidenced in the student -- teacher ratio. (Ganzel, 2007, p.1) In rural schools in the decades of the 1950s and 1960s the same thing occurred. There were differing opinions at that time on whether smaller schools or larger schools based on economies of scale were the best choice. Some felt that small schools were best and this is true of Dr. Frank Cyr of Columbia Teachers College who held in the 60s that "lower student-to-teacher ratios enhanced individualized instruction and that asking older students in a one-room environment to teach subjects to younger ones reinforced learning." (Ganzel, 2007, p.1) There are reported to have been studies conducted in the 1960s that supported Cry's position on smaller schools having more advantages for student learning. In the middle 1960s the federal education programs are reported as having "cut across the urban/rural argument" when the Great Society programs of President Johnson broke the schools into 'disadvantaged and nondisadvantaged schools. At that time schools consolidated in order to receive funding. In the 1940s it is reported that less than 1/2 of all American students actually graduated from high school. This number was 75% in the 1960s. Historically learning was concentrated on reading, writing, and arithmetic or the three R's. All learning was practical learning that would assist students in everyday life. Over the course of history the curriculum has branched out considerably with many subjects being integrated into school curriculum and this is true before high school graduation and in today's colleges. The practical everyday applicable courses are reported as being often viewed by students as something they have to "get out of the way" to get to the main course of their studies. (Ganzel, 2007, p.1) However, it is reported that what is termed as "Transformative education…place the student's reflective processes at the core of the learning experience and asks the student to evaluate new information and the frames of reference through which the information acquires meaning." (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and the American College Personnel Association, 2004, p.2) The idea of transformative learning is reported to reinforce "the root meaning of liberal education itself-freeing one from the constraints of a lack of knowledge and an excess of simplicity." (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and the American College Personnel Association, 2004, p.2) In the transformative educational paradigm the purpose educational involvement is the evolution of multidimensional identity, including but not limited to cognitive, affective, behavioral, and spiritual development. . Therefore learning, as it has historically been understood, is included in a much larger context that requires consideration of what students know, who they are, what their values and behavior patterns are, and how they see themselves contributing to and participating in the world in which they live or in their personal frames of reference. Frames of references are reported to also be referred as "stories (Parry & Doan, 1994) People are reported to compose "their own stories about who they are, what life is about, what is going to happen to them, and how they should respond to the various challenges life presents. Maturation or development occurs as people become more capable of articulating and critiquing personal stories, reframing them and reshaping their own lives." (The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and the American College Personnel Association, 2004, p.2) Also stated is that the work of Kegan (1994) and Baxter and Magolda (1999) describe this process as self-authorship and consider it one of the higher levels of the developmental process, a way of making meaning in which people reflect on their lives, their values and their behavior and consider whether or not previous choices remain useful or productive for them. Frames of reference -- and, therefore, students' stories -- change with growth, emerging or fading in a non-linear way. Mezirow (2000) describes this process as transformative learning, "liberating ourselves from reified forms of thought that are no longer dependable" (p. 27). (The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and the American College Personnel Association, 2004) It is reported finally that in order to provide support toward the learning outcomes of today "the focus of education must shift from information transfer to identity development (transformation). When the goals of education are to produce "intentional learners who can adapt to new environments, integrate knowledge from difference sources and continue learning throughout their lives we must give priority to identity development and to changing the ways in which students conceive their roles, abilities and contributions in the larger society." (The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and the American College Personnel Association, 2004, p.2) The work of Hancock (2011) writes in the work entitled "Why are Finland's Schools Successful?" published in the Smithsonian the facts as follows:

"There are no mandated standardized tests in Finland, apart from one exam at the end of students' senior year in high school. There are no rankings, no comparisons, or competition between students, schools, or regions. Finland's schools are publicly funded. The people in the government agencies running them, from national officials to local authorities, are educators, not business people, military leaders or career politicians. Every school has the same national goals and draws from the same pool of university-trained educators." (Hancock, 2011, p.1)