The Evolution of Education

The Evolution of Education

History has impacted everything that makes up the contents of complicated and busy lives in these modern times. The United States of America’s education systems has been molded, blueprinted, and revamped with the development of our nation and the growth our liberties. The education system began with the colonization of Europeans to the new continent, and was mostly influenced by the religions and belief systems held superior by the early Europeans. America has since grown into a melting pot of cultures and belief systems, and the education system would not have evolved with the diversity without challenges and skepticisms as to what defined knowledge.

It took many great minds to critize and challenge the monoculture that had pervaded the education system, and these varied individuals began their impacts shortly into the Renaissance period around the 1500’s, and the religious and cultural biases that created the framework of early education system began to undergo critical changes. “Today’s concern for universal education is a continuation of a trend that became pronounced during the Reformation. Many church leaders believed that the Bible was the repository of all wisdom; hence, it was desirable for all to learn to read so they might have access to its truths. Later, during the Renaissance, a growing emphasis on the worth and the importance of the individual evolved. Our schools’ concern for meeting individual differences developed from this perspective,” (Armstrong, Page 209). For the early education system being originally developed by the Puritanical European, it was limited to knowledge laid out by the churches and leaders, and this created a barrier for mankind. The barrier was that the limitation of information compiled would have kept us from evolving as humans, it would have kept us in a box and not allowed for the growth and adaptation of information and knowledge.

Francis Bacon was one of these great minds who challenged the notion of knowledge and truth, and his oppositions to the limits of the education system of those days, very crucially impacted our modern system of education by removing the limitations. “In the early 17^th century, the work of Francis Bacon (1561-1626) helped to establish the idea that truth could be challenged and modified through observation and careful weighing of evidence. This provided the foundations for the modern scientific method, something that continues to be enormously important in today’s schools,” (Armstrong, Page 209). Francis Bacon expressed that our history is only an account of what historians have written, and since they were written out of perspectives, he challenged that knowledge, like history, should be up for scrutiny and required testing and evaluation of what defined as knowledge. The very science method of Bacon’s philosophy is mirrored in our current education system, where knowledge is challenged with technologies and new scientific discoveries. Bacon made clear that it was necessary to acquire skepticism of facts in order for them evolve and develop with all the new discoveries. Just like the solar system was once thought to be center of the universe, telescopes have turned old theories on their heads. For example, we can clearly see with various images NASA has provided recently, that the universe is far vaster than we could have contemplated before, but without the doubts, and without the testing, like sending satellites into space, we as a group of humans would have never advanced our understanding of the immensity of the universe, and the complexities of planet Earth. Francis Bacon was one of the great minds brave enough to challenge old standards. His theories continue to influence modern science and the new information unfolding with continuous research and analysis. Scott Smith makes a strong argument in an article titled Francis Bacon’s Vast Vista Inspire: He stood strong for scientific research and liberty: "He deployed his great literary style, and a depth of thought at once original and powerful, to argue for a Great Instauration, or new beginning of knowledge," said Daniel Robinson, professor of philosophy at the University of Oxford in England and author of the Teaching Co.'s "Great Ideas in Philosophy." "In his groundbreaking 'Novum Organum' or New Method, Bacon established the authority of observation in discovering the nature of the external world and the authority of experimental method as the way to select the correct from competing theories of causation. Experiments like this don't succeed or fail, they simply expand our knowledge, he said. He argued that nothing should be off limits -- 'whatever deserves to exist, deserves to be known.'"

Everyday scientific research is revealing more and more data that challenge old notions of the world. Our education system continues to adjust to these changes, and the change is vital for us as a civilization. Students of today will become workers, educators, developers, contributors, and leaders for the future of our society. New scientific research has contributed so much to changes as a Nation, and has directly effected our education system. The importance of opening up to new knowledge has created new dynamics for education, and the more we learn, the more we can realize how little we know, and how much more we have to learn.

Megan Smith

　

　

Armstrong, D. H. (2009). Teaching today: An Introduction to Education (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River , NJ: Pearson. (Armstrong, D., Henson, K., & Savage, T., 2009).

Francis Bacon's Vast Vista Inspire: He stood strong for scientific research and liberty.
SCOTT S SMITH. Investor's Business Daily. Los Angeles: 2/22/2012. pg. A03

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