A recent LEARNING CLASS article was spotlighted on the blog "Jenny D.: Education, public policy and politics, middle-aged moms, life in the Midwest, life in the academy." (http://drcookie.blogspot.com) The excerpt appears below:
Today, another writer has come out with a piece on the goal and definition of education. Philip Vassallo, Ed.D. has written "ARE EDUCATORS TRAINING OR TRAINERS EDUCATING?", published via Education News.org.
Vassallo argues that education and training are different, that one has a lofty goal of increasing knowledge, and the other has a practical goal of making sure people can exist and thrive using skills. Rather than take a stand and scoff at one of these, Vassallo argues that both are necessary:
"Using simple examples, a reasonable person would conclude that we cannot have education without training, and vice-versa. If we see education as a know word and training as a do word, then they are inextricable. For instance, why teach a child addition and subtraction if she cannot make change from a cash transaction? Or why teach a high school student advanced composition theory without expecting her to be capable of writing a letter of complaint about a poor service she received? Similarly, what good is training a soldier on how to use a weapon if he is not first educated on the logistical limitations of the weapon and on deciding when to use the weapon? The fact is that all education must train us for something, and all training is useless unless it first educates."
Yes. Very good. I think of this when I visit schools with poor students, kids who really deserve the chance to not be poor as adults. They need training in skills. And they need in education in how to apply and think about these skills, and the situations in which they might use skills.
You can read my article "Are Educators Training or Trainers Educating?" by clicking here: www.educationnews.org/areeducators-training-or-traine.htm
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