Overschooled but Undereducated: How the crisis in education is jeopardizing our adolescents

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The basic function of education in all societies and at all times is to prepare the younger generation for the kind of adult life which that society values, and wishes to perpetuate.

By misunderstanding teenagers’ instinctive need to do things for themselves, isn’t society in danger of creating a system of schooling that so goes against the natural grain of the adolescent brain, that formal education ends up trivializing the very young people it claims to be supporting? By failing to keep up with appropriate research in the biological and social sciences, current educational systems continue to treat adolescence as a problem rather than an opportunity.

Synthasizing an array of research, gathered from many sources including a series of international conferences, Overschooled but Undereducated examines the increasing need to revolutionize the education system globally. It’s simple: education has to be about preparing children to be good citizens – not merely successful pupils – and become adults who will thrive at unstructured tasks. In this lies society’s best assurance of a positive future.