On education, Bush said all states must come up with their own accountability plans that include student achievement tests and rebutted criticism that too much time is spent in the classroom on studies geared toward getting high test scores and not on creative thinking.
"I tell my teachers, ‘Teach them first how to read, how to write and later how to do math and they will do fine,"' Bush said. "I'm a back-to-basics in education person."
In Texas, Bush said he got a Democrat-controlled Legislature to endorse a limited agenda laid out in his 1994 campaign both by working cooperatively with them and making them understand this is what the voters want. --George W. Bush campaigning in NH. [CNN]

In the seemingly contradictory statements above, the candidate touches upon many of the sometimes divergent and contentious themes in the history of US education—basics, skills, creativity, persuasion, accountability, cooperation. While the statements seem to stand apart, by the time they were spoken much was afoot to unify the old disparity between these issues.

Skill acquisition has always been an element of education in the United States. Tension about what skills should be taught or which purpose of education should take priority has likewise been a current issue in the decentralized development of US public education. As we move through our history, the list of core skills expands, technological advances bring further skill requirements, and education as a public enterprise reacts. While technological advances have divided educational purpose in the past, recent advances in information and communication technology (ICT) have helped resolve some of the dichotomy in education between curriculum-for-society and individual-learning-needs.

Early History

Early colonists sought to educate their youth, and the question of skills quickly came up. While religious indoctrination—itself a sort of survival skill at the time—dominated the New England Primer, it also included spelling and phonetic lessons. The Dutch Reformed School in New Amsterdam, Boston Latin School and Harvard College were chartered between 1635 and 1638, but all were designed with parochial skills in mind. In 1642, The Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a law requiring families to provide children, “…so much learning as may enable them perfectly to read the English tongue,…” by which the essential educational skill was legally established in the new world. In the same law it is required, “that all parents and masters do breed and bring up their children and apprentices in some honest lawful calling, labor, or employment, either in husbandry or some other trade, profitable for themselves and the Commonwealth,…” by which essential vocations were legally established. In Virginia, entitled education was carried on by private tutors, but still, an act for “educating of youth in honest and profitable trades and manufactures…” was established in 1646. [AoA]. One year later The Massachusetts School Law required a teacher for every town of 50 households, and the skill of writing was added to the educational regimen.

Education continued as a local or family activity, with trade apprenticeship for the poor, however, the scientific thought and technological advances of the Enlightenment were not to be held back by the Atlantic Ocean. While the nascent United States had established institutions of higher learning, the need for practical education was seen by independents and loyalists alike in founding the American Academy:

"As the Arts and Sciences are the foundation and support of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce; as they are necessary to the wealth, peace, independence, and happiness of a people; as they essentially promote the honor and dignity of the government which patronizes them, and as they are most effectually cultivated and diffused through a State by the forming and incorporating of men of genius and learning into public societies for these beneficial purposes.” [AAAS]

The domain of education in America now included academic as well as vocational skills. Not only did we need education and vocational training for our children, but also for a sense of national unity. Standardization of readers and texts (McGuffey, Webster and Thorndike e.g.) served as one attempt to unify the system of the new confederacy of states.

Elementary schools were established rapidly throughout the small nation and the need for standardization grew, but reading, writing and arithmetic, based on memorization, were the established essential skills. The need for coordination and standardization lead Massachusetts to establish the first Board of Education in 1837, open a teacher-training school in 1839, and pass the first compulsory school attendance law in 1852. The first federal bureau of education was tentatively formed in 1838 to gather statistics. [DoE]

Similar actions occurred in other states. In Connecticut for example, due to a state school board, “The proficiency of the system would be upgraded by an exam-graded curriculum that included spelling, reading, arithmetic, writing, geography, history, and grammar.” [YNHTI] This statement not only expands the range of skills, but makes a link between efficiency and testing. As the state governments became more firmly involved in education administration this notion would develop into what is currently known as accountability.

While the number of publicly funded elementary schools teaching the essential academic skills continued to grow, and public administration continued to develop, the demands for training in agriculture, mechanics, science and technology also grew as the nation expanded, fought itself, and expanded again. The federal government became more involved through funding land grant (agricultural and technical) colleges established by the first Morrill Act of 1862. Joliet Junior College opens in 1901 and vocational colleges as well as junior high schools are established. The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 provides federal funding for vocational education in agriculture, home economics, and industrial arts. The trade skills were distinct from the academic skills although there was a blending in different ratios depending on local expectations.

The Progressive Movement answered a social need to bring humanism and pluralism to politics, factory work, and agriculture. Progressive education combined industrial training, agricultural education, and social education as well as incorporating the new techniques of instruction advanced by educational theorists. The work of John Dewey, Francis Parker and others enhanced education by putting academic and vocational skills in real life contexts and adding human development curriculum. [HC] Central to the ideas of Progressive Education are that children learn best in those experiences in which they have an interest and that lessons are best learned through engagement in activity. The progressives concluded that education must be a continuous reconstruction of living experience based on activity directed by the child. The recognition of individual differences was also considered crucial.

"From its inception, however, the movement elicited rather sharp criticism from a variety of different sources, particularly for its failure to emphasize systematic study of the academic disciplines. Opposition increased greatly in the years following World War II, and many hold that by the late 1950s the movement had collapsed. By that time, however, the progressive movement had effected a permanent transformation in the character of the American school.” [HC]

The domain of education had extended beyond core academic skills and/or vocational skills into a realm of social and ‘life’ skills.

"Over the years, educators have tried to create a system that both supports individual development and teaches the knowledge and skills required by society. Needs-based and curriculum-based systems have often been combined. But average scores on standardized examinations for high school students fell during the late 1900's." [Pic]

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Business and Industry

Business and industry had learned from successful war and rebuilding efforts that more than core academic skills were needed. In The Organization Man (1956), sociologist William H. Whyte wrote that employers sought managers who could adapt and practice teamwork. The US response to Sputnik in 1957 highlighted the value of academic core content and skills, but at the same time it showcased teamwork. Whether the teamwork was imposed by a few lead scientists and administrators in the traditional hierarchical paradigm, or whether an additional set of collaborative skills was needed to help the US match and exceed the task. The need for the ‘best and the brightest’ in sciences and math became an issue of national pride and fueled the calls for a federal department of education. The social unrest of the sixties would eclipse calls for national unity on valued skills in education, except that critical reading and writing would continue to be required of those who took part in the conversation of current events. Arithmetic, in the popular mind, was still left to pecuniary applications although mathematics and its applications to science and engineering continued its background progress.

Two events in the nineteen seventies loom large as precursors to the impact of ICT on education. One clearly formulated currents of the past and established their impact on the future; the other was a harbinger. The OPEC oil embargo of 1973 obviated the US reliance on global markets. Two years later the personal computer concept would be released and would quickly take hold as an accessory, many would claim essential, to the individual mind both at work at home.

The US Department of Education, merely a bureau since 1838, was narrowly established in 1979 under President Carter and its dismantling was soon ordered by President Regan. However, the political and practical usefulness of an Education Department became apparent. The release of A Nation at Risk (1983) which described a national education system responsible for a “rising tide of mediocrity,” may have secured its continued existence. Many documents aimed at the public were produced under Reagan's appointee, Secretary William Bennett [StBH] which among other things pointed the way for the marketing of education. Whether in products, programs, or privatization, a multi-million dollar market in skill improvement became visible and awareness about accountability of education was on the rise.

Since then we have had many studies outlining the needs of business to be met by education. At early points, the back to basics group seemed to hold some sway, but the changing corporate organization structure, global marketplace, and creation of a new industry (computers) meant that basics would not be enough. We would not be going back to simply stellar performance of the core academics, because the corporate world had changed and needed more. Ironically, what it needed more were some of the values of progressive education. The post-industrial to global-information economy changed a central notion of knowledge for the corporate executive. It had been that knowledge was power, and keeping it to yourself meant keeping power; this paradigm has changed to effective sharing of knowledge being essential to power.

In the background of struggle between educating for traditional skills, individual needs, or vocational needs, a quiet explosion lurked. A global network, evolving from ARPANET and moving to NFSNET to USENET and beyond had been spun and was about to be opened as the World Wide Web. While working at CERN, now the European Organization for Nuclear Research, Tim Berners-Lee developed hypertext transfer protocol and hypertext mark-up language. Officials at CERN will make all of this available to the public without fee. [W3C]

In 1991, the Department of Labor weighed in with reports by the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS). The reports begin to specify what skills a high school graduate should possess, and they propose much more than core academics. The specific skills are hung on a five tier framework of Resource Management, Interpersonal Skill, Information Skills, Systems Knowledge and Technology Skills. The theme of the SCANS reports is what good educators have always known: it is not a contest to simplify skill sets, nor to make them abstract, nor which skills should be dominant, but rather, a weaving and blending to make a productive citizen. The value of life-long learning also gets acknowledgement in the reports and the impact of computers and information technology is cited repeatedly. The SCANS reports would continue to be cited in major reform documents and education consulting directives for over a decade. [SCWh]

"One of the most profound implications of computers in the workplace is that they replace learning based on visual observation with learning acquired primarily through symbols, whether verbal or mathematical (Zuboff, 1988; Scribner, 1988). For example, in textiles, semiliterate operators used to be able to move into technician jobs because they literally could see how textile machines functioned. Today, many machines have microprocessors and other electronic components that are not observable. To understand, diagnose, and fix the new machines, technicians now have to be able to represent their structures and processes symbolically in their heads by decoding complicated manuals, diagrams, and updates provided by the manufacturers (Bailey, 1988). Literacy requirements have accordingly increased. One hallmark of successful competition in today’s marketplace is flexibility in service and manufacturing industries."

Regarding the 'softer' skills that the education system should provide to engender such flexibility:

“Total customer service” and “total quality management” are the bywords of high-performance business organizations. The variations in product and service associated with this flexibility multiply the number of workplace decisions that must be made. In more productive companies these decisions are being made at lower and lower levels in the corporate structure, requiring both higher- and lower-skill workers to think critically and regulate their own performance."

"Increasingly, workers have to work in teams—within the same function, across functions, across hierarchical levels, and within supplier-producer-customer networks—and in a multicultural environment. These features of the work environment generate the need for skills in both interpersonal communication and conflict resolution."

The report goes on to summarize:

"The generic skills required (i.e., meta-cognitive skills—the ability to think about what one is doing and its consequences for the work goal) have become more similar across higher- and lower-skill jobs. This blurring of historical skill differences between occupations implies a change in who gets taught what. It raises serious questions about our distinct educational traditions of elite education and mass education (Resnick, 1987a), as usually embodied in “academic” versus “vocational” tracks.” [SCRp]

While these are agreeable statements, the day-to-day educator was left dumbfounded as to what to do skill lists oriented to business situations and suitable, perhaps as an outcome measure for high school seniors—there were still twelve to fifteen years of child development and education to fill in. Educators were left to seize on parts of the reports that were familiar:

"The scenarios make clear that tomorrow’s career ladders require even the basic skills--the old 3 R’s--to take on a new meaning. First, all employees will have to read well enough to understand and interpret diagrams, directories, correspondence, manuals, records, charts, graphs, tables, and specifications…At the same time, most jobs will call for writing skills to prepare correspondence, instructions, charts, graphs, and proposals, in order to make requests, explain, illustrate, and convince…Mathematics and computational skills will also be essential. Virtually all employees will be required to maintain records, estimate results, use spreadsheets, or apply statistical process controls as they negotiate, identify trends, or suggest new courses of action. Most of us will not leave our mathematics behind us in school…Today’s worker has to listen and speak well enough to explain schedules and procedures, communicate with customers, work in teams, understand customer concerns, describe complex systems and procedures, probe for hidden meanings, teach others, and solve problems." [SCWh]

These admonitions were released in 1991. But without clearer vertical development of the skills and training for educators, they could continue to do what they had always done. Education Secretary William Bennett had supported sticking to the basics, however, he had also pushed forward for accountability.

It is interesting to note that the work of Education Secretary Lauro Cavazos, appointed by President Reagan, focused on safe schools, Head Start initiatives, and opportunities in higher education for the disenfranchised. "When Cavazos stepped down in December 1990, he left behind a Department with a new appreciation for the plight of lower-income and minority students and a more open attitude toward working with educational institutions, most especially colleges."[DTSt] This continues the seemingly paradoxical and sometimes contentious history of education in the United States. The president beloved of laissez faire business would leave an education record of supporting the underdog.

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The Internet

Meanwhile, the communication network known to the few who used it for academic work would soon impact society at large as CERN releases the basic web technology and makes commercial use acceptable. Marc Andreessen and colleagues realize the opportunity and leave NCSA to market a graphical web browser. O'Reilley Associates propose "Internet in a Box" to bring the web into homes.

The opening of the WWW to commercial trade made it particularly clear that the workplace and markets would be different. Globalization was now more than an oil embargo and technology was now more than a stand alone archive device. The communication capacity of the personal computer combined with the internet changed much in the world, and would change the way the divisions in education were perceived by the outside world, but would it change what educators valued?

The call for redefinition of skills taught at school would explode along with internet use and the ubiquitous electronic interaction in daily life. The solutions begin with providing access: computers and connection.

“In his state of the union message to Congress on Jan. 23, 1996, U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton urged an educational technology initiative to improve education, proposing that every U.S. classroom be equipped with computers and connected to the Internet by the year 2000. The president also recommended that states and local districts adopt national standards to assess students' academic progress, supported the right of parents to choose the public school of their choice, encouraged organization of charter schools, and emphasized the need for values and character education.” [BrCl]

Hardware and hookup would not be enough as the need for training educators and refinement of implementation would become apparent. A barrage of studies and papers would be produced by academia, government and business alike [ACOT], [IMRe], [21Sk], [ETIC], [Big6], [eGNG] to name a few. Common to all was a framework for information management skills in addition to the basics. Further, the way the basics could or should be taught was called for revision. The developments in ICT lead us to a distinction between learning from technology, such as videodiscs and instructional software, in contrast to learning with technology by infusing ICT into the learning experience. This means that it is not the hardware so much as the pedagogy that influences the learning and development of skills. [IMRe]

This distinction was not lost on other nations beginning down the path of introducing technology in the classroom:

“Let us not confuse IT Education with IT in Education…IT Education refers to the teaching of Information Technologies and the computer. IT in Education is the use of Information Technologies as an extremely powerful set of tools to enhance teaching effectiveness…[its] application is cross-curricula…” [HKHw]

The internet and ever increasing access to personal computers transforms the classroom from a conduit to pass knowledge into a lab for creating knowledge. As with any skill set, development takes practice, but acquiring information skills the practice takes time and experience. New kinds of projects and experiences are needed in the classroom to build the new skill sets. Examples such as a second grade class following a bicycle trip around the world through videoconferencing—leading to geographic knowledge and communication skills—web-based interaction about environmental conditions, design and planning of new buildings using CAD and spreadsheet software, online publishing of creative work in writing, sound and visual art, all show broader, student-centered activities that enhance ICT skill development as well as core knowledge. [eGNG] These activities, and thousands of others to be found in books and web-sites promulgated by national councils of each subject area, break out of the 40-minute review and assignment structure of the traditional classroom and bring to bear skills far beyond the old basics.

In some regions there is further impetus for changing the ways we teach. Here are two more quotes from the enGauge report from NCREL:

“The world in which our children live is significantly different from that of yesterday. Today’s youngsters use laptops, pagers, instant messaging, and cell phones to connect to friends, family, experts, and others in their community and around the globe…Members of this generation expect to actively participate in and through their media, hence the decrease in time spent by teens in viewing television and the corresponding increase in time spent on computers, gaming, and the Internet.”

To communicate with some of our students we must learn their modes of communication. To establish the personal connection required to guide their education we must show them that we are all part of the same world.

“Educators have no choice. The times require that schools change or become obsolete…Such transition will require teachers and administrators themselves to become knowledge workers with 21st century skill sets.”

The concern about skills is clearly international. Educational Testing Service, originators of SAT and ACT and experience wide scope educational researchers work with a world wide panel on Information and Communication Literacy. [ETIC] From this group we again hear the call for new cognitive skills for information management, evaluation and integration:

“ICT literacy can best be achieved through experiences that integrate cognitive and technical learning. Single focused, stand-alone curricula, whether academic or technical, will limit the learners’ attainment of ICT literacy. ICT literacy skills need to be integrated appropriately into curricula addressing cognitive skills as well as those addressing IT and technical skills in order to ensure improved ICT literacy.”

Nonetheless a deep educational value is reaffirmed: that the gateway skills to ICT Literacy or 21st Century Skills, are reading, writing and arithmetic.

“The panel’s overarching belief is that the digital divide should no longer be defined only in terms of limited access to hardware, software, and networks, but rather, one that is also driven by limited literacy levels and a lack of the cognitive skills needed to make effective use of these technologies. Technology skills alone, without corresponding cognitive skills and general literacy, will not decrease the gaps defined by a digital divide.”

Such dichotomies are not new to conversations on education, but the fact of globalization is clear. Educators need reminding that different regions are at different stages of implementation of ICT, however, it is also clear that ICT and global awareness have both broadened and unified our views and evaluation of the importance of educational content. There are gateway skills, there are technical skills, and there are cognitive skills, all of which must develop and work in concert to enable the citizenry. Further, the individual can no longer be seen as ‘prepared for work’ as a static state, but must be willing to change and develop. The structure of the educational experience must change to create these outcomes and new approaches to assessment developed to account for these outcomes.

The country has been, at times, divided on the importance of academic or vocational skills, on basic or humanistic skills, on curriculum-for-society and individual-learning-needs. The value of the individual learner has oscillated between being a cog in the wheel to an essential organism that must morph to survive. While early globalization created fractures in our evaluation of educational content, the advent of ICT brought a unity to the field. The standards of education now include the basic academic skills, interpersonal skills, and the skills to reinvent and evolve as a worker and contributor to the human endeavor. In many ways, this new unity is simply what good educators throughout our nation's history have worked for all along, but the delivery and ‘teaching’ of education as an organic whole, has changed forever.

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