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|  | Sputnik Revisited: Historical Perspectives on Science Reform
(continued) Conclusion We are now approximately ten years into the current Science Reform effort. Some signs suggest that movement has just begun. The head of the National Academy of Sciences, Bruce Alberts, has make the improvement of science education a major priority of the National Research Council. The education budget of the National Science Foundation has now surpassed Bassim Shakashiri's hoped-for $600 million, and his successor, Luther Williams, has made large-scale "systemic educational reform" the watchword of the Directorate. The National Academy is vigorously disseminating their National Science Education Standards and the American Association for the Advancement of Science is promulgating its widely hailed Benchmarks for Science Literacy. Most State Departments of Education are scrambling to publish their own "standards" documents if they have not already done so. Will the current education reform movement, like the economy, continue to thrive beyond our usual cyclical expectations, or are we on the cusp of a decline in concern for science education reform, as we experienced in 1970? My guess is that we will continue to chip away at the existing educational establishment for some time to come. Why? Because, unlike the ephemeral education gap of the 1980s our present schools are largely obsolete. Public schooling as we know it still reflects the bygone values of the industrial age: turn up on time, follow directions, keep your mouth closed unless called on, write legibly and compute accurately, walk in straight lines, obey authority, recite the pledge of allegiance and learn how to vote. Do these dutifully and you will have the promise of a good job and a secure retirement, unless we are attacked by an evil foreign power, against which we must forever strive to defend ourselves with arms and vigilance. Such is the schooling of the twentieth century: conformist, authoritarian, and mainly focused on marketable skills. Today we have a new world where the threat is more internal than external, and the promise of secure employment is less sure. We are more like our prehistoric ancestors who had to learn to live by their wits in an ever changing environment. As new-age hunter-gatherers we need to acquire a broad range of skills that somehow match our innate abilities, whatever they are, to the needs and resources of an incredibly complex and turbulent global society. No teacher can possibly master the intricacies of that society well enough to predict what survival skills our children and grandchildren will need. They must teach them how to teach themselves, to become educationally self-sufficient, to learn how to learn. The challenge for educators today is to build the system of schooling that encourages life-long, self-motivated learning. Therefore we must create new learning environments that cultivate self-reliance, creativity, and independent thinking. This is a tall order and we have barely begun. Author's Note: This paper reflects in part ideas and historical information originally set forth in my book Schoolhouse Politics, Lessons from the Sputnik Era, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991). Notes
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