I get this question a lot from family, friends and other curious folks who have talked with me for a few minutes about my educational philosophy. I will try to answer this very large question as well as I can, and I will also encourage anyone who is still unclear to visit this link: http://www.tjed.org/tjed/intro and see what the "experts" say.
Basically, there are three types of education in the world today: training, professional and leadership.
Training is just that -- job training. Training prepares students to enter the work force. Generally, students with a strictly training type of education will spend their life working for someone else. Training is great! Who wants their doctor or tax accountant to enter their profession without it??!! Training teaches a person what to think in a given situation and how to follow directions. I personally feel that much of my personal education has been training.
Professional education teaches a person when to think and when to apply their knowledge to given situations. The most perfect example I can think of (though there are thousands) right now is that of the field of engineering. Engineers go through a great deal of professional education as they become experts in their field and learn when each "nugget" of knowledge is applicable and necessary. In other fields, like art or history or business, engineers may or may not have the knowledge to excel. Their professional engineering education did not give them these types of knowledge. Again, professional education is great! Where would our world be without professionals who are true experts in their fields??
Finally, there is leadership education (I call it Thomas Jefferson education). This one is more difficult for me to define, other than saying it teaches students to be leaders. Duh! Leadership Education has three primary goals. First, to train thinkers, leaders, and entrepreneurs—those with understanding and competence to lead society (do things right) and the moral character to act with integrity in the areas they lead in (do the right thing). Second, to perpetuate freedom by helping people understand what freedom is and what must be done to maintain it, and inspiring them to actually do the difficult things required to make it happen. Third, teach students how to think, which is how the first two goals must be accomplished. Those who know how to think are able to lead effectively and help a society remain free and prosperous, while those who know only when or what to think will be unable to do so. (most of this paragraph was quoted from the link above)
I know I'm about to get on my soap box and get comfortable for a few minutes, so if you're not interested in reading, feel free to stop here.
All three styles of education are important and perform a vital function in any society. Allow me to put each in a little bit of historical perspective:
Training is sometimes called "conveyor-belt" education because it was invented at the time of the industrial revolution where schools were established to educate the poor who at that time didn't go to school much at all. These schools were the precursor of our public education system where students were required to learn a specific set of skills. Each student was (and is) tested the same as every other student in his/her age group regardless of natural ability or interest. At the end, society received a relatively literate group of employees ready to build a workforce.
Professional education is even older, going back hundreds of years, and used to be called apprenticeship. Young people would work with older professionals for a period of time until they became expert enough to venture out on their own -- the more complicated the job, the longer the apprenticeship. You could argue that many professions today still incorporate a style of apprenticeship in their education (medicine, law, teaching, trades, etc.).
Leadership education is the oldest of all. I call it Thomas Jefferson education because this is how he was educated -- studying a wide variety of fields, reading the best books in each field, reading and studying original works, and learning morals and values alongside skills in his reading. This is what allowed all of our founding fathers to make principled, well-thought, and even creative proposals for our new nation. They had studied the great minds of times gone past ... through their actual writings not the commentaries found in textbooks.
What makes me sad, personally, is that our society has grown and flipped the three educational models upside down. Now, the "conveyor belt" model of education is the norm for over 90% of American students. Professional education is declining and now seems to be limited to a very few professions. Leadership education, the style of education that had been around for arguably thousands of years and studied by every great thinker and leader in history, is now not only the scarcest of all styles but also most readily ridiculed. What are we going to do when we end up with a society of workers and professionals trying to fill the role of leaders without the knowledge or ability to freely think for themselves?! It's a scary thought, and even scarier is the answer history gives us. The Roman republic fell after about 300 years not from outside conquerors, but because they had no more true, moral leaders and the populace demanded a dictator. The Germany of the 1930s was arguably the most well trained populace the world has ever seen. BUT they lacked true leaders, and easily fell for Nazi propaganda. History is truly replete with examples of similar examples of what happens when we lose the ability to think for ourselves and seem to only have the ability to regurgitate what someone else has told us.
To be clear, all three of these styles of education can easily be found in public schools, private schools and home schools. Colleges, universities and trade schools. The key lies in knowing what you are looking for and what you want for yourself and your children. As I said, I feel my education was far more "conveyor belt" than leadership, but it's not too late -- I'm not dead yet! :) Now is my time to educate myself and teach myself how to think. For me, the added bonus is teaching at a school that strives for leadership education in every way.
I'm off my soap box, now ... for now. I hope I've answered some of your questions and given you something to think about.
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