In almost every education class I’ve taken in my degree so far we’ve discussed how everything in our society, but schools have advanced so much. I feel like this article is touching on the same concept, just by comparing educational trends to the global network. By making this comparison Waks really makes it clear how important it is for new educational trends to succeed, because they are currently far behind the global network. This is evident when Waks explains “crystallized intelligence [is] the use of acquired knowledge and ability to reason using learned procedures, and fluid intelligence [is] the ability to reason broadly, form concepts, and solve problems based using novel or unfamiliar procedures” (76). According to Waks, currently our education systems are creating “‘crystallized’ knowledge, not the ‘fluid’ knowledge needed by today’s network users and knowledge workers” (76).

In terms of democratic aspirations of a global network society, it seems as though the global network is moving forward with a push towards new more progressive education trends with an emphasis on understanding instead of memorization. However, on the other hand Waks also discussed how “Schooling as a public enterprise advancing common goals is getting shoved aside by a neo-liberal regime seeking to privatize public education and impose corporation-operated charter schools emphasizing rote learning and standardized testing” (80). So, it seems that there is a strong divide throughout the democratic society are really just cancelling each other out because neither side is achieving the educational change that they want to see and the education system remains the same. Furthermore, Waks explained that “These [schooling as a public enterprise] efforts have weakened the democratic role of national and state governments and in particular have granted corporations inappropriate influence over educational policy” (80). Additionally, “it neglects the question of power in setting the future orientation of society, by overlooking the growth of corporate power over the democratic state and its public functions” (81). Since it seems neo-liberal corporations seem to have unnecessary power, that is probably another reason probably why liberal new educational trends are never given the time of day. Another reason new educational trends are so hard to implement, is because “In our postmodern era, large-scale, liberal “metanarratives” of social progress for all, such as Dewey served up in The School and Society, are greeted with skepticism or even ridicule” (Waks 80-81).