For most of human history, societies have tried to define the educated person and to provide the sort of education
that ensured the continuity of values they esteemed. From Confucius and the ancient Greeks, from the learned
contributions of Islam to the "natural education" promulgated by Rousseau, and from the vision of education for an American democracy
of John Dewey to the vision of education for the down-trodden and the poor of Montessori and Paolo Freire,
the notion of education as a liberating force may be seen as the common theme in each of the great visions.
Yet as we approach the next century and are challenged by social, technological and cultural changes,
we need to ask what such a freedom or liberation might mean and to what end such a liberation may be turned around to
address the educational needs of the current and future generations of children and youths.
What exactly, for instance, would education free humans from in the next few decades?
How and what can we draw from the ancient and prior traditions of education?
How can the ancient and older traditions help us separate the dross from the gems in an era saturated with
information, "factoids" and commercially motivated narratives?
What is, or will be, "the educated person" in the age of technology?
What sort of curriculums can schools and universities offer that will constitute a meaningful and integrated
education? that differentiates between "skills" and a real education? between the production of technocrats
and the graduation of wisdom warriors?
How can education foster humanity or humaneness in the current climate of anomy, commericialism and technopolization?
What will it mean to be human in the coming decades?
How can coherence, meaning and purpose be restored to educational programs?
What roles will art, literature, music and the humanities play in educational programs for the next century?
Who and what is a teacher in the age of technology? How can educators and teachers infuse the lessons of self-teaching amidst the soceietal challenges of our era?
