As our societies expand, education systems seem to be keeping us less, despite better technology, resources and education dollars spent. Our systems doesn't seem to scale too well. Mortimer Adler structured education into:
Adler.
Our educational system of the past century has focused primarily on scaled up rote drilling. Private education and colleges were where more advanced education took place, and it was, naturally, very expensive. Because hands-on coaching of individuals requires expensive one-on-one time. Now students are almost continuously drilled for standardized tests.
Another factor is the rise of social promotion. Because grades are so important now to get into college, and are seen as determining a student's future, parents have really beaten up on K-12 educators. Students now come into college with 4.5 GPAs, but can't always write a basic sentence. They can't write a paper. The may not be able to do pretty basic math.
Social promotion continues in college now, with professors being rated by their students or sometimes threatened with false sexual harassment charges unless they give that student their grade and move on. To fight it is likely a career ending move. Students will also offer themselves in exchange for grades, which happens more than you might think, according to may online sources. This phenomenon is also driven by the 'student as customer' orientation that has developed because the state no longer supports colleges very well. The students and their parents are paying for it, and inevitably, that means students are treated as customers.
