The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School

I have assigned this book to my freshman college students rather than the usual overpriced college anthologies that the publishing companies pawn off on teachers who march in lockstep to their curriculum, not necessarily because they are mean-spirited; rather they've become technocrats focused more on how to structure a paragraph than how to mold a life. My students, time after time, have come up to me, and have said, "I always knew there was something wrong with my education, but I never could put a finger on what it was. This book has finally put into words what I couldn't explain myself." It just might have the same effect on you. It is interesting that some of the subjects Postman believes are essential to any curriculum are those subjects which have been honored in traditional, autocthnonous cultures such as "spaceship earth" and ecology (Native Americans); the origins of meaning and values (All cultures); rhetoric (The Greeks, the Middle Ages)--expanded to include media literacy, not just the nature of written language. Some may call his ideas "utopian" or "impractical." However, I believe his point is that such topics would not be considered as such if we lived in a society that still had some common "ground of being," was not fanatically materialistic or increasingly jingoistic, and addressed the complexities of values and religion in a competent and thorough rather than in the current vacuous "soundbite" modality that permeates all public discourse including that of people who should know better. When Oprah has six Christian theologians on her show and ends it by saying, "In 30 seconds, I'd like each of you to provide your definition of faith," and then see them actually try to fulfill the task, it's pretty scary. Why didn't at least one of them say, "I cannot provide you with a definition of faith in 30 seconds"? Could it be "The End of Education"?

Most of the current debate in education involves `means': teaching methodologies, national testing, privatization, etc. This book focuses on a different, less frequently discussed aspect of the crisis in education: what should we be teaching in the first place? Inherent in all cultures and activities are purposes that drive actions. For schools, its most common objectives (such as technological competence, consumership, acquisition of practical skills, and multiculturalism) have failed to inspire spiritual and intellectual learning. Postman proposes five concepts (humanity's place in the universe, independent thinking, America's form of government, diversity, understanding technology's impact) to focus education around that in a number of ways grapple with the most significant issues the world faces today. Given the significance of education, and the fact that everyone is both directly and indirectly affected by its results, readers will find this an important and insightful book. It is especially excellent for educators seeking meaningful content and context for their lessons. Like all of Postman's writing, it is a concise, witty, and interesting read.

Just how radical this book is depends, I suppose, on your investment in education. From a teacher's prespective, I find in startling refreshing and valuable, because Postman is willing to take on difficult, "sacred cow" movements in education in a cogent manner. He isn't trying to be controversial...on purpose, but he will if he has to do so.For example, he takes on multiculturalism, an approach that is strong and getting stronger in our public schools. For Postman, it is important to maintain and present a common cultural heritage--something that will unify all of us--and yet maintain separate, sub- or minicultures in our homes and communities. But he presents his arguments with support and erudition, so that whatever your position might be after reading him, it will be something worth defending. In other words, it is worth reading this book if you care at all about education.Lastly, it's short, written clearly and without verbosity or grandstanding.

I once taught at a university in which the Humanities building had no windows. It was as if we were expected to be inclosed within ourselves, divorced from nature and the world, studying life from pages and computers instead of directly. The walls were drab, the corridors monotonous, and this was the place I was to teach the highest expressions of human culture, and most importantly, what is it to be or "become" human. Neil Postman's book is more than just refreshing. He makes a clear distinction between teaching as a kind of engineering feat--through books, transparencies, film, computers and whatever the latest delivery system is--and teaching as introducing the student to himself or herself and to the world. This book is about teaching diversity, in the real sense of the word. And this book is about the problem of education not being so much "how" we teach or "what" we teach, but that we lack a substantial goal. We lack a metaphysic. If you do not understand what it means to lack a metaphysic, then this book is for you. It is one thing to lose something and know that we have lost it (a wallet, for example), but if we lose something (such as a sense for what a metaphysic is) and we don't even know it is lost, we will not even know enough to look for it. If we have lost the sense of our lives being ordered toward some end, then indeed we are permanently lost. And we are just teaching randomly and learning randomly, as we try to become better producers and better consumers. Is that what we are? Neil Postman says no. We are much more. I encourage every teacher who cares about teaching to read this book. I encourage every student who has wondered why we have to study so many unnecessary things, to read this book. It will help the teacher reorient his or her teaching and it will help the student articulate the pain and fear he or she feels upon entering a classroom, and the reasons for his or her boredom in the face of what ought to be adventurous learning about the world and about himself or herself. It will give the student words so he or she can stand up in class and demand something better.