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The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School
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One of the best writers among contemporary cultural critics, Neil Postman is passionate about education. His ambiguous title refers both to the idea that schools as we know them are on the way out and to his own perception that Americans need to re-think what are schools for? He calls the ends of education “gods” — cultural conceits intended to inspire students to learn. Postman critiques gods that are failing in today’s schools, such as the god of economic utility, in whose name students are supposed to believe that if they get through school halfway well, they will get a well-paying job, and the god of consumership, whose golden rule is: The one who dies with the most toys wins. He then proposes five new gods to make schooling vital again. He calls the five “The Spaceship Earth,” “The Fallen Angel,” “The American Experiment,” “The Law of Diversity,” and “The Word Weavers / The World Makers.” Each of these rubrics evokes a familiar belief system. They are meant to — as Postman defines them, they are myths, in the most complimentary sense of the word, for realizing ourselves as responsible individuals in our communities, from smallest to largest. Accessible and high-minded, this is Postman’s best book on American education, according to Booklist.