AUTONOMY - THE IMPORTANCE OF A SCIENTIFIC THEORY IN EDUCATION REFORM

The six national goals established by the National Governors' Associat ion for education reform in the 1990s were conceived by people who had the power to decide what outcomes they wanted based on their own valu es and priorities. Although it is impossible to avoid questions of val ues, it is necessary in defining goals for education to consider scien tific, explanatory theories about how human beings acquire knowledge a nd moral values. Jean Piaget's conceptualization of autonomy, in his u nusual sense of the term, provides an overall aim for the development of individuals as well as of society, both in the intellectual and the moral realms. Autonomy as the aim of education is based on constructi vism, a scientific theory, and would obviate the outdated conceptualiz ation and contradictions among the six national goals.