QGE=A, Quality Generic Education is the Answer

Win Straube
University Press of America (2007)
ISBN 9780761837718
Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (11/06)

Win Straube addresses the issue of delivering a quality generic education.  Quality education is one of the most important issues facing United States and the whole world.  Learning should not stop when we reach a certain degree, age or point in our lives.  Learning should be a lifetime goal. “Life can be, and ought to be, an ongoing learning process with more and more enriched knowledge as we progress.” Unfortunately, some people believe there is no need to continue learning.

“Win clearly sees that certain established educational systems, while quite effective within certain domains, are deficient and inappropriate responses to the larger educational crisis we are facing.  Win sees that technology has advanced to the point where it might become the great equalizer by providing the opportunity to access quality education from anywhere, at any time, for any purposes.”

A good education is expensive, for many it is beyond what they can afford.  But everyone should have an opportunity to go to school.    This can be possible through electronic learning. 

Win believes that “If the pupil didn’t’ learn, the teacher didn’t teach.”  The pupil has to also be capable of receiving learnable information.  A student is not receptive “if he is spaced out on drugs and lives in an imaginary world.”  “Schools and colleges often seem to be rather crude and rude information-dispensers. Education facilities are fixtures designed to dispense as much knowledge as possible in the least possible amount of time to the largest possible audience.”  You can send your kids to school but you can’t make them learn.  People have different learning styles.  If the information isn’t presented in a way the student’s brain can process it, the student won’t learn.  Before a lesson is taught the student must be enticed to want to learn.  The lesson must be introduced in such a way that the student wants to learn what is about to be presented.

Much of learning must start early and start at home.  Children need projects and responsibilities.  “Reflecting back, I realize these “jobs” taught me things, including taking initiative and being thrifty.”  An additional benefit of tackling tasks, regardless of how mundane, is that it produces personal satisfaction and builds pride in accomplishment. It is not the role of a school to raise children.  It is the parents but, according to Straube, too many parents are shunning their responsibility.

Win advocates Distance Learning.  A lecture takes place on a campus.  A student in a classroom somewhere else “can easily listen to a lecture and a TV monitor allows the lecturer to display diagrams or charts.” 

“There are three branches of education needed to be dealt with under the ultimate purpose:

  1. Learning how to learn
  2. Learning the facts
  3. Learning to think or how to arrive at conclusions and if appropriate, act on them.”

This is a book that should not only be read but also acted on.  Straube states what I have long believed.  Long Distance Education will offer a good quality education without costing a fortune.  It will make an education available to the masses.  This book is well written and documented. Straube obviously has spent much time thinking through his ideas concerning education.  I applaud his efforts.  Well-done Mr. Straube!  It is with great honor that I highly recommend this book to all parents, educators, students and politicians.  I hope many read this book and reform our education system.