Four Institutions, Educators Receive Honor
The Center for Education Outreach & Innovation (CEO&I) of Teachers College at Columbia University today announced the four winners of its first annual Lifelong Learning Award: the Chautauqua Institution (and its president Thomas Becker), Brazilian educator Paulo Freire (posthumously), educator Maxine Greene and PBS (Public Broadcasting Service).
"This prize was created to honor notable leaders and institutions for their innovative and sustained contributions to lifelong learning," said Arthur Levine, president of Teachers College. "In today's information and global society, knowledge and education are the twin engines that drive our economy and shape our lives. In this environment the half-life of knowledge is becoming shorter and shorter. This makes education throughout life essential. And it makes strong lifelong learning programs imperative."
Levine noted that in a 1996 study by the International Commission on Education for the 21st Century, the concept of lifelong learning was described as education that is flexible, diverse and available at different times and places throughout one's life. The report, called the Delors report, identified four pillars of education for the future: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together (and with others), and learning to be. "The contributions of our honorees have addressed these four essential elements of learning throughout their lives, helping to change the way education is conceived and delivered," he said.
A 1938 graduate of Barnard College, long-time educator Maxine Greene has had a distinguished career in education, combining philosophy, education and the arts to enhance the education process. In her words, "If we enlist the arts and imagination in teaching, we allow students to take advantage of their lived experiences." Involved in many spheres of the education world, Greene founded and directed the Center for Social Imagination, the Arts and Education at Teachers College. She has been philosopher-in-residence at the Lincoln Center Institute of the Arts in Education for more than 25 years, and was the editor of the Teachers College Record. Among her many affiliations, she is past president of the Philosophy of Education Society, the American Educational Studies Association and the American Educational Research Association. At age 87, Greene is still a practicing educator -- as Professor Emeritus of philosophy and education and the William F. Russell Professor Emerita in Foundations of Education at Teachers College.
This article appeared on PRNewswire on November 17th, 2005.
Published Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005