EDUCATION IN THE YEAR 2031!!!!!

The University of Chicago, in 1931, invited professors

from the Department of Education to create a one

page statement, titled Prophecies, predicting the

state of education 100 years later. Predict whether or

not the statements made were true or false.

Educational practices

would lead toward

adoption of a universal

language.

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

True

False

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

This statement was true: “I expect much progress

to be made toward a universal language.” Prophecy

V

Students would follow

a method similar to

Montessori’s ideas – self

motivated and directed,

independently studied,

and with individualized

plans for students in

non-university settings.

MONTESSORI?

True

False

MONTESSORI?

This statement was true: “individual lesson sheets

and assignments are provision in education that will

continue to care for the separate needs of individual

pupils in the future.” Prophecy XIX

“The young people will increasingly get their own

education under self-direction as guided by their

knowledge of the science of human behavior.”

Prophecy II

Advances in the science of

education will progress to

the degree that teachers

and administrators will have

clear understandings of how

to acquire desired results

and diagnose and address

learning disabilities.

SCIENCE OF EDUCATION

True

False

SCIENCE OF EDUCATION

True!

“Most of the problems which baffle classroom teachers today, such as

the diagnosis and treatment of disabilities in learning and the control of

learning, will be so well understood by teachers in general…” XV

“The administration of education will likewise have become a science,

and administrative officers will have become a science, and

administrative officers will have such control of the facts which influence

education that administrative difficulties will no longer be offered as

excused for failure to put into practice the contributions of educational

science.” XV

Emphasis in education

will shift from reading,

writing, and arithmetic

to social sciences and

human understandings.

SOCIAL UNDERSTANDINGS

True

False

SOCIAL UNDERSTANDING

“Greater emphasis will be placed upon an understanding of

social institutions, modes of social behavior, and principles

of social organization.” VI

“The science of human behavior will come to rank as the

most important science, and all persons up to the limits of

their ability will become familiar with it.” III

“What we know today as the “social studies” will assume a

predominating place in secondary education.” XII

New technologies will

be incorporated into the

educational process –

radio, television, and

moving pictures will

provide students with

opportunities for first

hand experiences of

distant places.

TECHNOLOGY!

True

False

TECHNOLOGY

So true it hurts! “Entire schools and other educational

institutions will be transported by air to distant points in

order that pupils and students may obtain first-hand

information and make personal observations.” XVI

“The present typical American method of teaching

subject by use of highly condensed textbooks will give

place to far better methods of teaching - …use of

libraries, pictures, television, and direct observation.” I