Educational paradigms have been a guide to the educational system for so long already and they have proven their worth to humanity when universities are presenting their graduates every year. These paradigms are based on the industries that governed time lines. For example, during the years before the 1750s, agriculture was the main industry. Thus, school was made to take place during the 9 months excluding summer so that the children can help with farm work during summer (Riegle, 2004).
Also that school was just 7 hours a day so they can come back home before dark to do their farm duties (Riegle, 2004). During the 1750s to the 1970s, factory working was the most popular industry. Hence, there are 50–minute classroom time periods and grade levels K to 12, which are concepts modeled after the assembly line (Riegle, 2004). It was the educational system’s belief that the graduates that they were sending to the real world were good enough to be employed in the current prevailing industry.
However, these theories are now outdated and will not work with today’s industries and even with today’s students. According to the Institute of Planetary Renewal, public education is not working for the reason that children cannot be taught in an assembly-line setting, like that of a factory (The Institute for Planetary Renewal, 2000). Everybody has their own phase and education should be more individualized, as will be noted after assessing these school children.
This is why it is important to align both instruction and assessment methods with theory. If your basic theory is to produce students that are apt for today’s working power then you should deliberately change your methods in education. An organization’s educational paradigm should be able to conform to the technological advancements of today’s modern society and also cater to the popular industry’s needs.
Albeit the changes to be done will not be effortless and will most definitely require a complete revamping of the system, it has to be done in order to improve not only education, but the future leaders of this world as well.
References:
The Institute for Planetary Renewal. (2000). A New Educational Paradigm. Retrieved 25 August 2008, from http://planetaryrenewal. org/ipr/education. html Riegle, R. (2004). Education in the Information Age. Retrieved 25 August 2008, from http://people. coe. ilstu. edu/rpriegle/wwwdocs/educationinfoage. htm