Noam Chomsky - The Purpose of Education
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Not Syncedmusic
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Not SyncedWell, we could ask ourselves what the purpose of an educational system is
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Not Syncedand of course there are sharp differences on this matter.
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Not SyncedNow, there's the traditional, an interpretation that comes from teh enlightenment
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Not Syncedthat holds that the highest goal in life is to inquire
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Not Syncedand create, to search the riches of the past,
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Not Syncedand try to internalize the parts of them that are significant to you
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Not Syncedand carry that quest for understanding further in your own way.
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Not SyncedThe purporse of education from taht point of view is just to help people to get their own help, to learn
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Not Syncedon their own.
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Not SyncedIt's you, the learner, who is going to achieve in the course of education.
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Not SyncedIt's really up to you what you'll master, where you'll go,
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Not Syncedhow you'll use it, how you'll go on to produce something new and exciting for yourself, maybe for others.
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Not SyncedThat's one concept of education.
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Not SyncedNow the other concept is essentially indoctrination.
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Not SyncedPeople have the idea that from childhood
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Not Syncedyoung people have to be placed into a framework in which they'll follow orders,
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Not Syncedaccept existing frameworks, and not challenge.
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Not SyncedAnd this is often quite explicit.
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Not SyncedFor example, after the activism of hte 1960s, there was great concern
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Not Syncedacross much of the educated spectrum
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Not Syncedthat young people were just getting too free and independent,
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Not Syncedthat the country was becoming too democratic and so on.
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Not SyncedThere was an important study on what's called the crisis of democracy, too much democracy,
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Not Syncedclaiming that there are certain insitutions responsible for the indoctrination of the young--
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Not Syncedthat's their phrase-- and they're not doing their job properly.
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Not SyncedThat schools, universities, churches---we have to change them
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Not Syncedso that they carry out the job of indocrintation and control more effectively.
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Not SyncedThat's actually coming from the liberal internationalists
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Not Syncedend of hte spectrum of educated opinion.
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Not SyncedIn fact, since that time there have been many measures taken
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Not Syncedto try to turn the educational system towards more control, more indoctrination,
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Not Syncedmore vocational training.
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Not SyncedImposing a debt which traps students, young people, into a life of conformity.
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Not SyncedThat's the exact opposite of what I referred to that traditionally comes out of the enlightenment.
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Not SyncedThere's a constrant struggle between those.
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Not SyncedIn the colleges and the schools, do you train for passing tests?
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Not SyncedOr do you train for creative inquiriy?
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Not SyncedPursiung interests that are aroused by materil that's presented, you want to pursue either on your own
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Not Syncedor in cooperation with others.
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Not SyncedAnd this goes all the way through up to graduate school and researh.
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Not SyncedJust two different ways of looking at the world.
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Not SyncedWhen you get to a research institution like the one we're now in,
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Not Syncedat the graduate level, it essentially follows the enlightment tradition.
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Not SyncedIn fact, science couldn't progress unless it was based on inculcation of the urge to challenege, to question
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Not Synceddoctrine, question authority, search for alternatives, use your imagination freely of your own impulses.
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Not SyncedCooperative work with others is constant as you can see just by walking down the halls.
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Not SyncedThat's my view of what an educational system should be like down to kindergarten.
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Not SyncedBut there certainly are powerful structures in society
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Not Syncedwhich would prefer people to be indoctrinated, to conform, to not ask too many questions, to be obedient,
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Not Syncedto fulfill the roles that are assigned to you and not shake systems of power and authority
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Not SyncedThose are choices we have to make, wherever we stand in the educational system.
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Not SyncedAs students, as teachers, as people on the outside trying to help shape it in the direction that we think it ought to go.
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Not SyncedWell there certainly has been a very substantial growth in new technology--
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Not Syncedtechnology of information, communication, access interchange.
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Not SyncedIt's surely a major change in the nature of hte culture and society.
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Not SyncedWe should bear in mind that the technological changes that are taking place now,
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Not Syncedwhile they're significant probably come nowhere near having as much impact
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Not Syncedas technological advances of a century ago.
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Not SyncedLet's take communicaiton.
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Not SyncedThe shift from a typewriter to a computer or a telephone to email is significant.
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Not SyncedBut it doesn't begin to compare with a shift from a sailing vessel to a telegraph.
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Not SyncedTge time that that cut down in communication between England and the United States
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Not Syncedwas extraordinary as compared with the changes taking place now.
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Not SyncedThe same is true of other kinds of technology.
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Not SyncedThe introduction of widespread plumbing in the cities had a huge effect on health,
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Not Syncedmuch more than the discovery of antibiotics.
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Not SyncedSo the changes are real and significant,
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Not Syncedbut we should recognize that others have taken place that were much more dramatic.
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Not SyncedAs far as the technology itself and education is concerned,
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Not Syncedtechnology is basically neutral.
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Not SyncedIt's kind of like a hammer.
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Not SyncedThe hammer doesn't care whether you use it to build a house
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Not Syncedor whether a torturer uses it to crush somebody's skull.
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Not SyncedA hammer can do either.
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Not SyncedSame with modern technology, say, the internet, and so on.
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Not SyncedThe internet is extremely valuable if you iknow what you're looking for.
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Not SyncedI use it all the time for research, I'm sure everyone does.
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Not SyncedIf you know what you're looking for, you have a kind of framework of understanding
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Not Syncedwhich directs you through particular things
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Not Syncedthen this can be a very valuable tool.
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Not SyncedOf course, you always have to be willing to ask
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Not Synced"Is my framework the right one?"
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Not SyncedMaybe I have to modify it."
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Not SyncedMaybe if there's something I look at that questions it, I should rethink how I'm looking at things."
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Not SyncedBut you can't pursue any kind of inquiry without a relatively clear framework
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Not Syncedthat's directing your search and helping you choose what's significant and what isn't.
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Not SyncedWhat can be put aside, what can be pursued,
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Not Syncedwhat ought to be challenged, what ought to be developed.
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Not SyncedYou can't expect somebody to become a biologist
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Not Syncedby giving them access to the Harvard University biology library
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Not Syncedand say, "Just look through it."
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Not SyncedThat'll give them nothing.
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Not SyncedThe internet is the same except magnified enormously.
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Not SyncedIf you don't undertsand or know what you're looking for,
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Not Syncedif you don't have some kind of conception of what matters--
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Not Syncedalways with the proviso that you're willing to question--
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Not Syncedif you don't have that, exploring the internet
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Not Syncedis just picking out random factoids that don't mean anything.
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Not SyncedBehind any significant use of contemporary technology--
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Not Syncedthe internet, communicaitons systems, graphics, whatever it may be--
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Not Syncedunless behind it is a well constructed, directive, conceptual apparatus,
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Not Syncedit is very unlikely to be helpful.
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Not SyncedIt may turn out to be harmful.
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Not SyncedFor example, random exploration through the internet
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Not Syncedturns out to be a cult generator.
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Not SyncedYou pick up a factoid here, a factoid there
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Not Syncedand someboyd else refers to it,
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Not Syncedand all of sudden you have some sort of crazed picture
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Not Syncedwhich has some factual basis but nothing to do with the world.
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Not SyncedYou have to know how to evaluate, interpret, and understand.
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Not SyncedSay biology again.
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Not SyncedThe person who wins the Nobel prize in biology
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Not Syncedis not the person who read the most journal articles and took the most notes on them.
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Not SyncedIt's the person who knew what to look for.
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Not SyncedAnd cultivating that capacity to seek what's significant--
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Not Syncedalways willing to question whether you're on the right track--
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Not Syncedthat's what education is going to be about.
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Not SyncedWhether it's using computers and the internet or pencil and paper and books.
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Not SyncedWell, education is discussed in terms of whether it's a worthwhile investment
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Not SyncedDoes it create human capital?
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Not SyncedIt can be used for economic growth and so on.
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Not SyncedAnd it's a very distorting way to even pose the question, I think.
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Not SyncedDo we want to have a society of free, creative, independent individuals,
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Not Syncedable to appreciate and to gain from the cutlural achievements of the past, and to add to them?
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Not SyncedDo we want that?
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Not SyncedOr do we want people who can increase GDP?
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Not SyncedIt's not necessarily the same thing.
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Not SyncedAn education of the kind that ---- John Dewey and others talked about,
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Not SyncedThat's a value in itself.
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Not SyncedWhatever impact it has in the society, it's a value
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Not Syncedbecause it helps create better human beings.
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Not SyncedAfter all, that's what an educational system should be for.
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Not SyncedOn the other hand, if you want to look at it
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Not Syncedin terms of costs and benetifs,
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Not Syncedtake the new technology that we were just talking about, where did that come from?
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Not SyncedWell, actually a lot of it was developed right where we're sitting,
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Not SyncedDown below where we now are was a major laboratory back in the 1950s,
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Not Syncedwhere i was employed in fact,.
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Not SyncedWhich had lots of scientists, engineers, people of all kinds of interests--
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Not Syncedphilosophers, others.
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Not SyncedWho were working on developing the basic character and even the basic tools
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Not Syncedof the technology that has now come.
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Not SyncedComputers and the internet for example,
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Not Syncedwere pretty much in the public sector for decades,
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Not Syncedfunded in places like this, where people were exploring new possibilities
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Not Syncedthat were mostly unthought of, unheard of at the time.
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Not SyncedSome of them worked, some didn't.
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Not SyncedThe ones that worked were finally converted into tools that people could use.
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Not SyncedNow that's the way scientific prgress takes place.
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Not SyncedIt's the way that cultural prgress takes place generally.
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Not SyncedClassical artists, for example,
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Not Syncedcame out of a tradition of craftsmanship that was developed
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Not Syncedover long periods with master artisans, with others.
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Not SyncedSometimes you can rise on their shoulders and create new, marvelous things.
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Not SyncedBut it doesn't come from nowhere.
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Not SyncedIf there isn't a lively cultural and educational system
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Not Syncedwhich is geared towards encouraging creative exploration,
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Not Syncedindependence of thought, williingness to challenge accepted beliefs.
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Not SyncedIf youdon't have that you won't get teh technology that will lead to economic gains.
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Not SyncedThough that I don't think is the prime purpose of cultural enrichment in education.
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Not SyncedThere is in the recent period particularly an increasing shaping of educaiton
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Not Syncedfrom the early ages towards passing examinations.
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Not SyncedTaking tests can be of some use, both for the person who is taking the test
- Title:
- Noam Chomsky - The Purpose of Education
- Description:
-
Noam Chomsky discusses the purpose of education, impact of technology, whether education should be perceived as a cost or an investment and the value of standardised assessment.
Presented at the Learning Without Frontiers Conference - Jan 25th 2012- London (LWF 12)
http://www.learningwithoutfrontiers.com
credits:
Interviewed & directed by Graham Brown-Martin
Filmed & edited by Kevin Grant at wildtraxtv (http://on.fb.me/wildtraxtv) - Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- PACE - OLD
- Duration:
- 21:58
altmediaangela edited English subtitles for Noam Chomsky - The Purpose of Education | ||
altmediaangela edited English subtitles for Noam Chomsky - The Purpose of Education | ||
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