Knowledge is the most democratic source of power.
—Alvin Toffler
On what he called "the edge of the 21st century," futurist Alvin Toffler wrote PowerShift, the final volume in the trilogy he began with his influential bestseller Future Shock. In Future Shock and the books that followed, he predicted that to prepare for the future we must change our understanding of the present and the trajectory into which it propels us. PowerShift focuses on power, which, Toffler argues, remains one of the least understood and most important aspects of our public and private lives. Toffler writes that of all sources of power, knowledge is fundamentally different because it can be grasped by not only the rich and the strong, but also the poor and the weak.
That conviction underlies Toffler's vision of the places we dedicate to knowledge—schools. He describes his school of tomorrow as open
24 hours a day; students, who would begin their formalized schooling at various ages depending on their individual preparation, would arrive at different times of day. Toffler's vision is of a place fully accessible to all learners, regardless of their individual characteristics—and in that it is, sadly, a truly futuristic vision. Many of today's schools are inaccessible to students who are physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially, or economically challenged, and that puts knowledge, the supposedly most democratic source of power, beyond the grasp of the weakest and poorest citizens of what we call the developed world.
The good news is that a broad cohort of educators, scientists, researchers, lawyers, designers, and philanthropists share Toffler's vision and have concrete ideas for how we can and must design learning environments that are not only accessible but welcoming. The thinkers gathered here urge us to address pragmatic and humane changes, and push us to think beyond, to the changes that will make a learning environment the kind of vibrant and engaging place that truly puts knowledge within the grasp of all.
