The Future of Education

Metaphors are ubiquitous in education, as evidenced by for example “zone” and “growth”, “construction” and “scaffolding”, and “deep” and “surface”. I am in two minds whether this is problematic; whether it represent something to fix in the interest of precision. On the one hand, the answer to this is “yes”, since progress (or even research) hardly is possible if not based on something precise, i.e., something literal, i.e., something precisely not a metaphor. Yet, it might be that the prevalence of metaphor in education testifies to a profound disciplinary feature – that it is therefore not easily eradicated, and that any attempt to do so would imply misrepresenting the very nature of the field. This paper investigates into questions pertaining to metaphor in education; a particular interest being the possibility of alternatives to the metaphorical descriptions that are so prevalent. I start by reviewing seminal positions on metaphor: those of Black (1954; 1977), Searle (1993), and Lakoff & Johnson (2003). A pay-off from this section is a description of the paper’s methodological approach, the interaction-view of metaphor (Black 1954; 1977). According to this view, a metaphor communicates by activating, in those who listen to it, an alternative frame of reference – upon which the listeners understanding depends and by which the understanding is explicable. I then delineate salient educational metaphors, to indicate the scope of metaphor in education. Thereafter, under the headings “what”, “how”, and “why”, I attempt a characterization of the different uses to which educational metaphors are put: whereas some relate to subject-matter, others relate to educational method; others, still, relate to overall educational purpose. Subsequently, in section 5, I discuss select educational metaphors, before I in section 6 consider implications of the view of metaphor professed. As regards the investigations results, the paper will produce an overview (albeit limited) of the most prevalent educational metaphors. Said overview will afford me the possibility to analyze uses of metaphor in education, thereby to suggest places where metaphor might not be fruitful. It might, thus, be possible to suggests non-metaphorical alternatives, and perhaps, even, to hypothesize as to the nature of education. As regards the papers relevance, the research suggested is relevant to a manifold of educational genres in that it attempts foundational discussions of a vital educational feature.