Education and Training in an Era of Creative Destruction

Abstract

Over the course of the 20th century, the U.S. economy has moved from rote to creativity, from a mass production workforce to a white-collar workforce whose focus is developing new products for sale. In the process, economic change has been accelerated, so that our educational process and goals are increasingly inappropriate. As an example, even the intensive education of medical doctors is inadequate to the current pace of change. In this paper, the author delineates the impact of the electronic revolution that has automated routine and made creativity more profitable and therefore more powerful. The author examines the high school movement (1910-1940) and the college movement (1940-1970) as successful responses to technological challenges that increased equality. The author then attempts a tentative discussion of the electronic revolution's impact on the educational process.