The need for Critical Advocacy for the information Age

The nature and information generation has become increasingly complex. The amount of information generated and the pace of change have accerated hence,the education methods must change to better fit the times. It is essential to teach students a lifelong method of learning.
Several developments influence our need to rethink our education delivery methods. Firstly, more information than ever before is available. The sheer volume of data in existance is mind boggling to say the least. Increasingly,the mastery and use of information are the keys to success and positive social results.
Secondly,the pace of social change has quickened substantially and shows no sign of slowing. In previous generations,life would change little from one life time to another. Citizens were hence trained for specific tasks and roles with a fairy static kit of education skills and they achieved success with them. Vocation and life styles were passed down from one generation to another. In the 21st C, we have come to realise that we will need several different careers in a lifetime. We cannot assume that we can confine learning to the school years. and we cannot be sure that the job we trained for will be available to us in a corporate world. Increasingly we find it esssential to teach students methods they can apply to changing situations.
Thirdly, The interrelationships between events heightens complexity. Previously communities and nations existed in relative isolation from others. Now with global commerce,environmental stresses and information exchange,each community is influenced in powerful ways by events in other parts of the globe. In addition, many technological changes such as wireless communication,powerful portable computers and rapid transportation have sytemwide effects,influencing all aspects of society. Therefore understanding global systemic interelationships is a challenege to very citizen.
Fourthly,the effect of all the above points have led to a domination of discourse and decison making by so-called experts. While our parents may have strived to be "renaissance" persons,today specialised knowledge is highly prized. The result is that "talking heads" and quoted experts dominate most discussions. Increasingly,the role of average citizens is one of emotion,anger and grief at the occurence of social tragedies(police brutality,environmental poisoning,closing of locations of employment,injuries from a string of consumer product defects etc) while the deeper issues sorrounding such incidents and the public policies directed at them are discussed all too often almost exclusively by such "experts" and often in defence of their vested interests.
Lastly,the communication landscape is increasingly illogical. One wonders at the different between earlier advertisements,which focused on needs,use and features of products and the current focus on images,associations and often illogical connections that try to persuade citizens of a direct relationship between any number of products and basic social and sexual needs. Furthemore,while democracy has spread literaly to many countries,everywhere it remains increasingly shallow in terms of real citezen's awareness and participation. Increasingly,the so called "market place of ideas" rewards ideas that are stylish and hyped as oppossed to logically valid. Hence,the need to train learners to combat this trend by using logic as the first tool of analysis.