The Tension Between Pedagogy and Relevancy

                Since the creation of formalized public education in the US during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, there has been an unresolved tension between pedagogical philosophy and relevancy to the real world.  The architects (university presidents, business and political leaders) of our public education system designed an educational system that was based on the control of content, assimilation to American ethos, and maintenance of the status quo in a stratified society (see Tyack, 1974: The One Best System).  While there have been a number of reforms over the years, a majority of these reforms have not been sustained long enough to address the core beliefs and foundation of public education. Until the core beliefs and foundation of public education are modernized, the tension between pedagogical philosophy and relevancy to the real world will continue be an albatross to public education.

The pedagogical philosophy of public education was established on the Socratic Method where teachers provide instruction; students are supposed to sit and listen attentively to content and recall the information for evaluation (i.e. test) and promotion.  Ironically, the argument to make public education relevant to the real world has been the same.  Beginning with, Dewey in the early twentieth century (see Dewey, 1938: Experience and Education) who argued that learning should be built on a continuum of knowledge that can be utilized in the adult world, to the Washington and Dubois debates on how the education of African-Americans should be utilized to uplift the race (learn a trade or enrollment into higher education) (see Harris, 1993:  Analysis of the Clash over the issue between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois).  In the 1960s just about every Civil Rights and Black Power movement leader called for education to be more relevant and diverse to the real world, and in the 1980s during the shift from an industrial to a global economy, calls from the state and federal level to make education more in line with the needs of the global workforce. 

Now in the midst of the worst global economic meltdown since the Great Depression, appeals from the business community and at the federal level are calling for relevancy in public education.  However, unlike the efforts of the past, the case for relevancy should gain momentum as youth unemployment is at World War II levels, American youth are behind youth in Europe and Asia in math and science, there is a decline in the number of college graduates, and jobs are being sent overseas because corporations complain our educational system aren’t producing workers for a global economy.

                Finally, with federal initiatives like Race to the Top, the dismantling of No Child Left Behind, state initiatives that have challenged the way school districts operate, and grassroots organizations such as Students First, the time for major changes to pedagogical philosophy is now.  In order for the US to reclaim its role as the leader of the global economy, our public education system must make the content relevant to the real world.  This is the only way students will be engaged in learning and be able to apply what they have learned to the global workforce.