Conclusion: New Learning Educates Whole Communities

The New Learning Project endeavours to counteract the forces in our society that are eroding communities and alienating students. The current direction in public education is seen by many to be exacerbating these conditions: amalgamation of schools, privatization of buildings and services, corporate sponsorship of curricula, standardization of programs and tests, and reliance on high technology are trends that contribute to the dehumanization of education. ¹⁷ In contrast, the New Learning approach to education focuses on building communities, bringing together young and old with shared knowledge, accommodating a diverse array of learning needs, and empowering people to use democratic means to direct education and control their lives.

New Learning teaches communities to value diversity. Despite our modern technology, society, economy and spirituality, human beings are part of the world's natural system. The more diverse the natural system, the richer and according to scientists the more stable it is. Similarly, it can be argued that in rural communities, diversity provides citizens with richness of experience and wealth of opportunity and helps stabilize economies and social structures. Such stability does not preclude change. Things will always change, and the more elements a system has, the more complex it is, the less the probability that it is undermined by change. A community that values and embraces diverse cultures, a varied economy, several generations, different philosophies and numerous occupations is better able to meet crises, fads, failures, tragedies, challenges and catastrophes.

Diversity is unfortunately not reflected in educational trends. Governments and school boards in North America profess to address the needs of life-long learning, yet according to J.T. Gatto they are consistent in segregating students into classes according to mother tongue, age, aptitude, and tested achievement. He deplores what he sees as the subordination of the varied needs of students to the efficiency of the public system. ¹⁸

New Learning proposes that we take a different approach to education and endeavor to embrace the diverse learning needs of citizens and to exploit the myriad of educational resources present in every community.