The Soul of Technology Education: Being Human in an Overly Rational World

If technology education is to become a vital part of the general education curricula, it must recognize the importance of the humanistic aspects of teaching and learning. Warner states that to achieve this goal it will need to examine the story it wishes to tell. If educators choose the storyline written by Edward Thorndike then they will never be able to teach technology education with the full richness it deserves. An alignment with engineering could limit their profession achieving diversity among the students and narrow the content in their courses. Taking this direction would further enhance the mechanistic and analytical views of teaching and learning advocated by Thorndike. If, however, they choose the storyline written by John Dewey, who advocated the humanistic approach to teaching and learning, they put out the welcome mat to all students in the public schools as they not only talk about, but also live the philosophy of a democratic classroom. In the battle for the heart of American education, Thorndike may be winning, but in the long-term conflict for the soul of technology education educators have to ask, do they want to embrace the machine or the human?