Since the early Egyptians human beings have formalised the business of
learning, setting up a designated environment of some form to pass
knowledge and learning on to groups of students. In this second edition
of his Very Short Introduction, Gary Thomas explores how and why
education has evolved as it has, examining the ways in which it has
responded over the centuries to various influences in politics,
philosophy, and the social sciences. Focussing on education today, he
considers especially the controversies over progressive versus formal
teaching, and also examines education worldwide, assessing the
accelerating trend on both sides of the Atlantic of the move to charter,
academy, and 'free' schools.
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated moves to online
learning in schools and universities, and in this new edition Thomas
looks again at curriculums and what shape they should take in a rapidly
changing world. He asks why action on race, gender and social inequality
has borne so little fruit thus far, questioning the oft-made claim of
education to be a force for social mobility, and offering an analysis on
how education may develop over the coming century.
Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring
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