The Future of Education

Educational curricular design, content, and delivery must always address broader political, economic, and sociocultural currents of the time. Education must constantly vitalize ideas and projects of social change, and nourish students who above all, want to understand and commit to the idea that their studies are consequential in real world terms. Education’s fundamental application and one of the most critical metrics of its efficacy and success is the quality and degree to which our students become civically engaged, to actualize the skills of citizenship they have acquired, and ultimately recognize themselves as “protagonists” in the culture of their own times. (Berman, 1988)[1] The achievement and sustainment of such ennobling goals are challenged mightily in the perilousness of the times--a perilousness captured in the abundant evidence presented in the annual Edelman Trust Barometer, 2023: “Navigating a Polarized World”. (Edelman, 2023)[2] The report analyzes the erosion of trust in societal institutions, especially among the young, and compelling issues identified, include the collapse of economic optimism, prevailing anxieties (joblessness, inflation, and existential concerns around climate change, war, and food security), a media environment dominated by echo chambers, the instability of “truth”, the troubling rise of autocrats, and more. It comes as a revelation in the profile of trust that not government, not media, not non-government institutions, but business is the most trusted sector. A substantial global majority in the survey responded that they buy or advocate for brands based on beliefs and values, that brands have the power to create shared identity, and that business has a critical role to play in the information ecosystem. This is more than an invitation for media education—this is the imperative of media education. As branding and social purpose marketing/advertising have come to dominate the media universe of the young, and as young demographics seek understanding of and solution to gripping social problems through brand identities, our ability to achieve an educational philosophy that prioritizes citizenship and works to renew trust in perilous times depends on our capacities to design and conduct comprehensive programs of media education. To this end, this paper maps the urgencies, the substance, and the directions of media education.