Some people believe that the failure is due
to the bureaucracy of education. Much can be said in support of
this opinion. The National Institute for Literacy is an example
of how a problem can become a public institution. Other people
believe that the failure is due to the inability of educators to
develop a good theory of education, based on how people learn and
what the best way to teach is. Misunderstanding the implications
of education and setting false priorities are also frequently
invoked. Misunderstanding too often resulted in expensive
government projects of no practical consequence.
Other explanations are also given for the failure of
education-liberalism, excessive democracy in education,
rejection of tradition, teaching and learning geared to tests,
the breakdown of the family. (Listing them here should not be
misconstrued as an endorsement.) It seems that every critic of
today's education has his or her own explanation of what each
thinks is wrong. Some of these explanations go well back,
almost to the time when writing was established: education
affects originality, dampens spontaneity, and infringes upon
creativity. Education negates naturalness during the most
critical period of development, when the minds of young people,
the object of education, are most impressionable.
Other arguments are more contemporary: If the right texts
(whatever right means) were to be taught, using the best methods
to put them in a light that makes them attractive, education
would not lose out to entertainment.
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