The Future of Education: Reimagining Our Schools from the Ground Up [Hardcover]

Prof. Kieran Egan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0300110464 | ISBN-13: 978-0300110463

This engaging book presents a frontal attack on current forms of schooling and a radical rethinking of the whole education process. Kieran Egan, a prize-winning scholar and innovative thinker, does not rail against teachers, administrators, or politicians for the failures of the school. Instead he argues that education today is built on a set of mutually exclusive goals that are destined to defeat our best efforts.

Egan explores the three big ideas and aims of education—academic, social, and developmental growth—and exposes their flaws and fundamental incompatibility. He then proposes and describes a process called Imaginative Education that would dramatically change teaching and curriculum while delivering the skills and understanding that we all want our children to acquire. His speculative narrative of education from 2010 to 2060—executed with wit and verve—shows how we might very well get there from here. (20090316)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Egan''s compelling and original approach to much-needed education reform is delivered through a very imaginative and engaging narrative.”—John Willinsky, Stanford University

(John Willinsky )

"Kieran Egan is one of the most original ''big picture'' thinkers in education. I always read what he writes. In his latest book, Egan critiques both traditional and progressive education and puts forth his own provocative ideas on how change might be implemented."—Howard Gardner, author of Five Minds for the Future and Multiple Intelligences

(Howard Gardner )

". . . a brilliant conceptual foundation for the future of education. . . . [T]here is greater need than ever to bring bright ideas to the table to deal with the challenges and opportunities for educating. . . . Egan''s account . . . is an ingenious attempt to do this."—James V. Wertsch, Science

(James V. Wertsch Science )

About the Author

Kieran Egan is professor of education, Simon Fraser University, and author of Getting It Wrong from the Beginning. He lives in Vancouver.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300110464
• ISBN-13: 978-0300110463
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #566,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Book by Kieran Egan, October 15, 2008

By 

Conrad Spirrison - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Future of Education: Reimagining Our Schools from the Ground Up (Hardcover)

This latest book by Kieran Egan reviews and expands on his earlier pubications. His ideas concerning how to best educate our children are presented clearly and enthusiastically. The vital importance of stories and imagination are reinforced. The only difficulty I had was the somewhat uncomfortable perspective of looking back from the future. Perhaps that is the best way to present the material, but it made me uncomfortable. Then again, perhaps being uncomfortable is an intentional technique to awaken us from our current way of looking at education. I rate this book as 4 3/4.
Thank you Kieran.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Approach to Education- Kieran Egan's The Future of Education, November 7, 2009

By 

Usha Varma "Uvarma" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Future of Education: Reimagining Our Schools from the Ground Up (Hardcover)

At a time when education has everybody confused, Egan brings in fresh and concrete ideas for the class room. His backwards approach is slightly difficult to grasp but as the book proceeds we see a scientific approach on education.
The basic idea of a school is challenged when he writes of the "skhole" in ancient Greece that was a place where literature,music,mathematics,cosmology and geography were studied at leisure. This place soon became a place of study for the young people. The schools in the later years became structures where learning occurred for a specific purpose - to make one virtuous person.
Egan bases his his book on the incompatibility of the three ideas of socialization , Plato's academic idea and Rousseau's developmental idea. He explains the problem in education rises because people use these ideas differently.
He gives diverse examples in different situations to demonstrate the fundamental flaws in the education system.He provides solutions for education by showing means by which this education system can be made successful-by using cognitive tools. For instance, he says the education imparted in schools must be related to the student's immediate reality or environment for the student to experience education.
He divides the future of education in years -from 2010 to 2060- and goes decade by decade to show the reconstruction of education. A fascinating book on education reform in the twenty-first century.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "history" of education from 2010 to 2060, July 29, 2009

By 

ROROTOKO (rorotoko dot com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Future of Education: Reimagining Our Schools from the Ground Up (Hardcover)

"The Future of Education" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Egan's book interview ran here as a cover feature on January 27, 2009.