The Greatest Evasion: Why Technology Won't Save Education

Abstract

Americans place an enormous amount of faith in education=s power to solve social problems. Today, liberals tend to believe that education can improve our attitudes, making us less racist by broadening our perspective and knowledge of different people and cultures. Conservatives often argue that education can solve our economic problems by training citizens for jobs and increasing their capacity for upward social mobility. Indeed, President Clinton, who may be viewed as bridging liberal and conservative ideals, posed education as a solution to economic dislocation. His solution is to provide unemployed citizens with the necessary skills to find new forms of employment. Education, it would seem, stands as a primary pillar of American democracy.