Education

            
             In recent years alternative educators and homeschooling families have looked beyond the routines and structures of the conventional educational system to develop more open-ended, community-based, collaborative programs for lifelong learning such as featuring introducing homeschool resource centers, democratic schools, Internet-linked distance learning programs and other pioneering efforts to redesign education for the twenty-first century.
             Since the late 1960s and early 1970s, Colleges and universities have been profoundly changed by the huge influx of "non-traditional" students who have increasingly characterized campuses--women, people of color, and part-time and older students. Projections suggest students will continue to increase in diversity far into the future. .
             After more than a decade of marginally effective reform, diverse stakeholders are coming to the same conclusion: Demanding more from our schools is not enough--the system itself must be fundamentally changed. .
             Systemic reform is proposed as an alternative to tinkering and add-on programs that, critics say, will not meet the demands of business, parents, communities, and students for fundamental change and significant improvement in schools. .
             Although support for systemic reform has been growing, change is never easy. Many educational board members harbor concerns about how the roles that are familiar to them will be affected by systemic reform. .
             Much of the push for systemic reform stems from a recognition that the nation's social and economic structure has changed. Economic forces and educational equity issues have combined to heighten calls for improved education for all students. Although society's needs have changed radically since public schools were first instituted in America, many outdated and ineffectual purposes and methods have been retained by schools. .
             As workers are increasingly expected to weather multiple career changes, it is imperative for educational institutions to emphasize the importance of lifelong learning, strengthen students' thinking and problem-solving skills, and increase their adaptability.