Friedman's Ties to Education and Life-long Learning
Mursalata's ( summum bonum to those in the blogosphere) thoughts were buried in the comments:
"After finishing Friedman's The World is Flat I’m very intrigued at how a significant amount of his economic study is tied, inextricably, to education. There is more work to be done in education than we’ve been articulating and acting on! His work continues to empress the need for individuals to become life-long learners. What I found most thought provoking about his work is where information on education appears in the text. It is simply everywhere, there’s not like one section where education is covered. Sure, there are concentrations of educational talk, but Friedman manages (out of necessity, I think) to mention educational influences on “the flat world” in areas of the text where the subject at hand isn’t necessarily education only.
Friedman’s assertions about getting more people into community colleges serves as a both great kudos and challenges to institutions like ours. So what are we to do? Well earlier this year I was introduced to the life-long learning approach used by the Koning Willem I College in the Netherlands. Their teaching/learning approach was phenomenal as indicated by their presentation at the Chair Leadership conference, last April. I found their presentation so fascinating and intriguing that break time was an intrusion into what we learning. The college’s mission statement: School for the future devotes itself to a solid future and better world.
Coen Free, the college’s president, has written a brief overview of their approach to life-long learning (24 pages) titled Moving from a Campus Centered Environment to a Learning Village. I think it’s a must read (I’ve got copies for anyone interested in reading it). This community college is considered one of the most innovative in Europe. Currently they have a special project called School for the Future – “a very innovative Center for Teaching and Learning, E-Learning and Creative Thinking” endeavor. I so want to go there and absorb a bit more!"
Thanks for your thoughts SB! I'll take a copy of Free's overview. What do others think of Friedman's book?
"After finishing Friedman's The World is Flat I’m very intrigued at how a significant amount of his economic study is tied, inextricably, to education. There is more work to be done in education than we’ve been articulating and acting on! His work continues to empress the need for individuals to become life-long learners. What I found most thought provoking about his work is where information on education appears in the text. It is simply everywhere, there’s not like one section where education is covered. Sure, there are concentrations of educational talk, but Friedman manages (out of necessity, I think) to mention educational influences on “the flat world” in areas of the text where the subject at hand isn’t necessarily education only.
Friedman’s assertions about getting more people into community colleges serves as a both great kudos and challenges to institutions like ours. So what are we to do? Well earlier this year I was introduced to the life-long learning approach used by the Koning Willem I College in the Netherlands. Their teaching/learning approach was phenomenal as indicated by their presentation at the Chair Leadership conference, last April. I found their presentation so fascinating and intriguing that break time was an intrusion into what we learning. The college’s mission statement: School for the future devotes itself to a solid future and better world.
Coen Free, the college’s president, has written a brief overview of their approach to life-long learning (24 pages) titled Moving from a Campus Centered Environment to a Learning Village. I think it’s a must read (I’ve got copies for anyone interested in reading it). This community college is considered one of the most innovative in Europe. Currently they have a special project called School for the Future – “a very innovative Center for Teaching and Learning, E-Learning and Creative Thinking” endeavor. I so want to go there and absorb a bit more!"
Thanks for your thoughts SB! I'll take a copy of Free's overview. What do others think of Friedman's book?
