The culture of education - Jerome Bruner

In a commentary on the possibilities of education, the psychologist Jerome Bruner reveals how education can usher children into their culture, though it often fails to do so. Applying "cultural psychology" to education, Bruner proposes that the mind reaches its full potential only through participation in the culture - not just its more formal arts and sciences, but its ways of perceiving, thinking, feeling and carrying out discourse. By examining both educational practice and educational theory, Bruner explains ways of approaching many of the classical problems that perplex educators.;Education, Bruner reminds us, cannot be reduced to mere information processing, sorting knowledge into categories. Its objective is to help learners construct meanings, not simply to manage information. Meaning making requires an understanding of the ways of one's culture - whether the subject in question is social studies, literature, or science. "The Culture of Education" makes a case for the importance of narrative as an instrument of meaning making. An embodiment of culture, narrative permits us to understand the present, the past and the humanly possible in a uniquely human way.;Bruner looks pas