Unit 5 response and analysis

¶ … embedded in schooling relate to a number of key areas. These include the subjects that are taught, the way the school system is structured, administered and funded, and in how classroom education is conducted. Even the concept of classroom education itself is part of the existing paradigm. The education and training of educators is part of the paradigm as well, since those educators have a strong influence on how the system works at the micro level.

Shifting paradigms in education have often come as the result of social, legal and technological changes from outside the industry. Females became more involved at higher levels of education in the early 20th century as the result of social changes. The integration of the education system in the mid-20th century stemmed from legal changes (Brown v. BOE, for example). The current shift away from classroom education towards distance and non-conventional education is driven by technological shift. In addition, actors on the fringe of the education system have driven some of the most important changes. Online universities, for example, were once fringe players but they pioneered many of the models of distance education that are now being used in the industry's mainstream, and this occurred because their lack of paradigm-driven inertia allowed them to adapt to customer preferences more easily (Helmi, 2001).

The increasing emphasis on technology has essentially forced the other elements of the education system to follow. It was found in 1999 that most teachers were undertrained in technology, so the teacher training system was forced to change in order to meet the paradigm shift (Rogers, 2000). It is easier to understand a shifting paradigm from outside the system as those within the system become entrenched in the existing paradigm and take it for granted. In education, it is the students that have the greatest power to change the existing paradigms -- it is by their demands that technology has become more integrated, that the Brown v. BOE and similar court cases were initiated and that women demanded an increasing role in the system.

The experience with law enforcement also shows similar models of paradigm shift. The leaders within the industry typically posed resistance to changes. Changes instead were driven by the needs of other stakeholders -- by politicians who shifted laws, funding and emphasis; by communities that demanded specific paradigm shifts such as improving the ethnic diversity of police forces. The War on Drugs is one example of externally-driven paradigm shift. Politicians drove this change in emphasis that shifted the priorities of law enforcement. Some law enforcement agencies eventually have taken some of that paradigm shift back, choosing not to focus on petty drug crimes. In those cases, the paradigm shift is internally driven at the micro level by individual members of law enforcement leadership.