The educational system that we are presented with today has been a progression spanning several centuries of human development. It is true that perhaps the focus and means of education has manifested itself into forms that teachers and students of last century or even within the last decade would find absurd, but modern education has become the human standard, or perhaps more accurately, an industry standard.

The ways and means of education has changed as quickly as the world around us, bending to the inertia of our societies. And so it is of no great surprise that the modern educational system has adapted so well to the post-industrial society we have made for ourselves. The pursuit of education for the sake of knowledge o

The traditional system of education was a private one on many levels. The relationship between teacher and student was more interpersonal, bordering along a mentor/pupil mentality. This type of education was a lifelong process that involved years of teachings by the same individual, with the student being the actual beneficiary to the educational process, a notion that seems somewhat foreign in today's schools.

With the gentle sweep of industrialization flowing across the world, the expanding labor market began to dictate new needs for different workers. Not only were more competent workers needed, ones that were literate and coherent in other areas, but with the development of management structuring the catalyst of competition was set into motion. The vocational education system became the answer to those needs.

The Honors students are encouraged to take SAT classes, something not mentioned in the Votech programs. Even the club scene at school that once comprised of a film club and a nature group are replaced with the FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) and the National Honors Society, two clubs that may not be nearly as much fun but look great on a college application or a job resume. One cannot afford to lose their competitive edge while in the lapses of leisure; an early implication that work and fun can be synonymous.

As a global society we have swallowed this whole-heartedly, without question. While it differs greatly between individual cultures, the focus has remained clear. In the U.S. it has become a prepackaged cultural icon known as the "American Dream" where it has been assumed that everyone must want the house in the suburbs with the picket fence and the 2.5 kids.

If we continue to gear our society to the spins of the almighty dollar, we will rob ourselves of the decency of this world. We cannot let our very education corrupt us from the beginning of our lives; teaching us that knowledge is only an application for your job to refine. Perhaps the traditional approach was right; education should be kept for the elite. Now if only people realized how elite we could be without the influence of money.

So what does this progression of schooling tell us? That our own school system leads us into believing that they know our talents better than we know ourselves? That their standardized testing of modern education is a fair assessment of our abilities and is accurate enough for them to determine our course of education? That generation after generation we allow our children to be shaped into the "best of possible workers?" That from the earliest of ages we are forced into an

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Approximate Word count = 1767
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)