On lifelong learning

The nontraditional student, the 31-year-old mother of three who is now single and wants to get back in the job market, the 45-year-old engineer who lost his job at the jet propulsion plant because of cutbacks in federal funding for basic research in that industry-these people and others like them are now becoming the "traditional" student. The 18- to 22-year-old may still be the traditional student at a few select institutions like Brown. But throughout the country, the normal continuum of education is no longer K through 12, but K through life.

It has been said that knowledge now doubles every two years. I am not sure exactly how that is measured, but the point is clear. We cannot point to a person and say that person is educated because he or she has studied these subjects and read these books. This can no longer be the basis for us to say, "You are educated." You may have some learning at that moment-some information perhaps-but education, real education, must be continuous.

Looking beyond Brown and the liberal arts universities, we must mount an ongoing effort to create an education infrastructure that will serve people, particularly in their later years, as they continue to change. When my father entered his profession, the chances were that he would change his job once. When I entered the job market, the chances were that I would change my job four or five times. My daughter, who is 22, is entering a world of work where statistics say that she may change her job or her profession many more times than someone of my generation. Think of the intellectual power that is going to be required to create and operate an educational system that must serve that sort of world. Creating that system is our greatest challenge-and will be our greatest achievement.

Copyright New England Board of Higher Education Summer 1998
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved