The Culture of Education

My appreciation for this book has to do with my professional bio. I started out as a teacher. After a few years of teaching in elementary school, I became interested in how culture works, is transmitted, and influences individual development. That resulted in a phd on the relation between evolutionary studies of religion and culture and theology. And in the last chapter of that dissertation, I'm returning to education. One of my sources there is this book. For one reason or the other, Bruner has never been mentioned during my own training as a teacher. Is he too American (I did encounter e.g. Piaget, Rogers, etc.)? Was his work considered outdated and replaced by newer theories? I don't know.What I do know, is that this book offers much food for thought for teachers. First, there is Bruner's presentation of the relation between culture and individual development, which in my view can easily be connected with evolutionary theories (niche constriction theory, developmental system theory) about culture. Bruner writes about how education needs to balance between continuity and discontinuity of cultural traditions, about how education should enable people to engage their culture, to contribute to culture. Second, Bruner develops different aspects of this general view on what education should be about, challenging the reader to critically asses current debates on education and teaching (e.g.: Why precisely do we want/need more STEM-courses in our curricula?).I would recommend this book for anyone interested in education, but certainly for newcomers to the field. Not because Bruner offers the last word on how we should teach, or on why we should teach. But because his general thesis offers a lens trough which to look critically at current political choices regarding education (which are often too utilitarian), while remaining pragmatic (education should make a difference).

Jerome Bruner has a gift.Even without the image on the cover to guide you, you can feel, through his words and opinions, a warm, empathic person, a great educator and a strong academic personality of the "old fashion" gentleman type. By that I am thinking about someone - man or woman - who has walked the path all the way, and who make an effort to invite anyone with an interest in all things deeply human along on an adventurous journey.It is very elegant. And also remarkably comforting: being served texts on lofty matters shifted through decades of thinking and learning in one single mind is by itself like watching the unfurling of a life, a person, someone we could ourselves be if walking the field in the same manner. Unhurried, calmly he points in directions and make connections on subjects and fields in the intellectual history that makes you feel happy and contented.If you are in any way involved with teaching, writing, children, or indeed any form of human interaction at all, this is really a book to read.for a longer analysis on the subject you can also see [...]

Useful book

Ease of understanding for anyone.

It's still worth reading

They have been delivered in reasonable time. And it is terrific book.

Good text book, did the job

Easy to read! Excellent resource when looking at culture. I used it as a PhD student looking into the culture of teachers.

Great book.

good