The McDonaldization of Education Essay -- McDonaldization and Higher E

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Education remains a cornerstone for society as it has for decades. Technology advances, the economy fluctuates, and politics change, but education remains, not only important but imperative for personal and social growth. Yet, as important as it is touted to be, the quality and purpose of learning is often lost in the assembly-line, manufactured process of education that exists today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In a highly structured and economics-driven world, the educational system may be viewed as a machine designed to churn out future workers and employees. Like the fast-food industry, education has been standardized in an attempt to provide the comforts of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. In our aptly named McDonaldized society, aspects as important as quality are sacrificed in lieu of speed and profit. As far as education is concerned, however, this attempt to systemize and order something as complex as learning proves futile and detrimental to the basic tenet of enlightenment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The standardization of the learning process proposes a simplified, singular approach to providing education to those who can afford it. Limiting material provided and lessons taught, tests, grading, function to create an easily controlled system. â€Å"Education† has been transformed and has come to connote â€Å"the transmission from a central source of knowledge to passive recipients† (McClellan. Online). However, the question remains whether this definition can actually suffice. The futility of a packaged education is put into context when it is realized that â€Å"meaningful learning, deep knowledge, collective wisdom and innovative action do not come from slick, pre-packaged course materials and efficient one-way transmission of information† but rather through the more complex idea called learning (McClellan. Online).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Unfortunately, the purpose of the education system, as seen in most institutions of higher education, is in fact to instill in people the notion that they are incapable of learning. The standardization of education highlights the underlying assumption that people â€Å"cannot learn without a pre-determined set of institutionalized options forced upon them† (Kyhall. Online).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The view of education as a commodity, rather than a means for intellectual, spiritual, or interpersonal growth, results in most educators and teachers offering st... ...onal and social growth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The cost of McDonaldization is clear. In terms of standardizing education, the model is â€Å"anti-diversity, anti-creativity, and anti-democratic† (Kyhall. Online). As a whole, the consumption of the simple solution called education will not solve the problems. The modern world is much too complex to be solved in a single approach. Furthermore, education creates danger in the world by devaluing learning and dehumanizing people. Learning cannot be confined to formal allotments such as school or colleges, and in our changing times, it becomes even more imperative that education be not a product to sell but a tool to enlighten, a means to promote growth rather than division. This is the true purpose of education. And it does not come pre-packaged. Works Cited Gidley, J. and S. Inayatullah. Youth Futures: Comparative Research and Transformative Visions. (2002): 34. Kyhall. "The McDonaldization of Education" 15 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.    http://fundamentalsofsoc.edublogs.org/2012/11/15/the-mcdonaldization-of-education/ McClellan, Jock. â€Å"Metaphors, Words, and Models of a Wiser World.† The Swaraj Foundation. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.