The End of Education: Redefining the Value of Schools

Review of Neil Postman's: The End of Education by Bailey E.

Throughout all Postman's creations, he continues the same set of beliefs and morals. Technology can be used as a marvelous tool of learning or it can damage student's intellectual learning process. Students must learn technology as a craft rather than an outlet. In turn, they will benefit themselves rather than harm their education. The End of Education contains content that will force the reader to think "out-of-the-box" and relate personal experience with Postman's beliefs.
Postman encourages people to grow and change because of something they have learned so that their life is more diversified. However, there must be a reason and a means for such change. It is usually abstract and hard to identify. It deals with systematic thought, yet it is completely different than motivation. Reason is the power of acquiring intellectual knowledge and unemotional thought; motivation is the act or state of being motivated. Postman believes that there must be a reason (not motivation) for taking a test, doing your homework, listening to the teacher, or even going to class. Without a reason, schooling does not work. In order to develop reasoning skills, you must have a god to serve. Serving, as well as choosing a god, is essential to understanding the reasons complexity, credibility, and power. Whether we believe in them or not, we cannot live without them because they play such an important role in reasoning and learning. Postman states that students who share a common god are what make a public school truly public. They may believe in the science-god (understanding, power, demonstrable, cumulative, correctable, practical), the technology-god (vision of paradise, convenient, efficient, prosperous), or the local-god (hard work, discipline). These gods control and have a sufficient amount of power to give point and meaning to schooling. These gods work in narratives to help direct one's mind to an idea or story.
Postman envisions narratives that deal with directing peoples' minds to the origins and creation of the future. The significance of narratives relies on giving meaning to the world, especially through schooling. Narratives work to provide a sense of personal identity, community life, moral conduct, and life explanations, just as schooling should. He goes on to describe five narratives that may serve us better: "Spaceship Earth"; "The Fallen Angel"; "The American Experiment"; "The Laws of Diversity" and "The Word Weavers/The World Makers".
Postman's most compelling argument, in my view, revolves around what he takes to be the "false gods" of modern education. What keeps our schools from being effective, he says, is the lack of commonly accepted stories, or the inadequacy of those we have in giving meaning and direction to schooling. At the moment, he says, education is geared toward economic utility, consumerism, technology, multiculturalism and other false objectives. Narratives such as these are incapable of providing a rich and sustaining rationale for public education. Postman is a strong believer that education must be for life, not merely on career sake.
Postman also offers a number of innovations toward making schools more effective. He argues that textbooks should be altogether eliminated because they have a deadening effect on students and promote a view of education as the gaining of immutable facts. Postman created an enjoyable book.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

quite thought provoking...

This book gives great insight into the lost art of teaching. His "gods" and "narratives" are ideas which should also be taken quite seriously. The "gods" and "narratives are ideas which should be addressed more frequently by teachers and parents alike. This book is an inspiration to teach. It should definetly be read by education majors or people considering teaching.