Paradigms are mental models or ways of thinking about something. Our current educational system, for example, contains many vestiges of the agrarian paradigm (e.g., summer vacations so that students can be home to help with the farm work) and the industrial paradigm (e.g., a lock-step curriculum and bell schedule so that education can proceed in assembly-line like fashion). In 1900, when the current educational system was designed, 70% of the U.S. population were employed in the agricultural/industrial sectors of our economy. It made sense to design an educational system around those paradigms. And, that paradigm was extremely successful in raising our high school graduation rate (from 5% to 75%) and reducing illiteracy (from 11% to .6%). Our rise as a superpower in the twentieth century was due in large part to the success of our educational system.

It is clear, however, that our current educational paradigm has become outdated. In the year 2000, 90% of our population is employed by the information and consumer services section of our economy. Our high school graduation rate and literacy rate have remained virtually unchanged in the last quarter of the twentieth century despite tripling our school funding, even after adjusting for inflation. Our challenge is to design an educational system which is more closely aligned with the current ways of living, working, and learning--to find a new educational paradigm for the Information Age.

A visionary leader is one who can see the future. This requires an understanding of current and future trends as well as previous paradigms and paradigm shifts. Visionary leaders who want a more detailed explanation of educational paradigms should browse Education in the Information Age. This document examines the roots of our current educational paradigm and its performance over the past 100 years. Current and future social trends are examined with an eye to their impact on education and some principles upon which to build a paradigm more appropriate to the 21st century are outlined.

Paradigm shifts are as unpredictable as they are inevitable. No one can be sure what the future holds, but it is likely that education in the Information Age will be dramatically different. For some clues about how it might turn out browse these documents. While some of the writings may seem unbelievable, just remember how much society and education changed with the invention of the printing press. It is likely that these writings under-estimate the coming changes.