Perspectives on the Future; Lanny Milbrandt

This is university in your community my name is Louis Foster and today we are continuing our series on the perspectives on the future with a different professors at Wichita State University campus and today we're talking to Lanny Milbrandt an assistant professor in the art education department of Wichita state and we're going to be talking a little bit how the general education requirement at Wichita state cultivate a student sense of the past and it's relationship to the president future that's kind of the statement we've been talking about through this whole series we talked about the past earlier and now we're talking about the different perspectives on the future and first of all I'd like to thank you very much for coming and by being on universe in your community [Milbrandt] Well thank you Louis I appreciate the opportunity to speak here and I enjoy the annotation. [Louis] I'd like to kinda go back just a little bit to start with talking about what kind of relationship if any do you think the past has with the future and I know that's one of things that the general education requirement is focused to do what kind of relationship you think these things have. [Milbrandt] Well I didn't have an

opportunity to hear the prior program on the study of the history of the past but I do believe that you can that the old cliché that if you don't pay attention to history or going to have to repeat it's failures and mistakes in there course is the old cliché that why reinvent the wheel they don't pay attention to history you'll be extending and be redoing knowledge that has already occurred rather than extending into new horizons I do believe that history has some very limited predictive possibilities but but that is a limited kind of thing [Louis] How you feel Students should approach the future as far as their point of view is concern [Milbrandt] Well I- I'd like to see the future viewed from the idea that there's a great number of possibilities and potentials and alternatives that need to be identified

rather than worrying about the crash of change and the rapid advance of technology and as Alvin Toffler would say the shock of change I would say let's look upon this as opportunities. Order can be built from the chaos that we see perhaps impending and impeding upon our lives so kind of a realization possibilities or an identification of possibilities [Louis] I see in other words instead of maybe focusing so much on the negatives with all the talk about the bomb and everything about the possibility of the future being very limited you need to kinda be optimistic [Milbrandt] Let's do a flip on that let's say instead of focusing on the problem let's say what challenge or opportunities are present along with the problem [Louis] Are there any way of telling what kind of challenges you think might be

out there [Milbrandt] Well I think the that's an attitudinal step that needs to be cultivated in young people and to enable that to occur I think we have to provide educational programs that will allow students to wonder to imagine to develop alternatives kind of a lateral thinking if you will rather than sequential linear thinking. [Louis] I see so you mentioned Alvin Toffler and obviously his book "Future Shock" has played a very big part in how a lot of people feel about the future. Is there is there any one book would it be Future Shock that people could look out toward trying to establish a different perspective on the future? [Milbrandt] Well I think future shock is entertaining and it's probably value in more in the sense of recent history. It's nineteen what sixty-eight publication but since that time course Toffler has

published two or three other books that deal the future. The Third Wave is fairly recent if I were put in the spot of having to identify a book that provided students with a perspective on the future I would say the best one would probably be The Study of the Future By Edward Cornish and members of the future world futurists society. [Louis] I see what types of things does he talk about [Milbrandt] Well he he talks about the kind of problems that will be confronting us the challenges it will face and some alternative ways to help to look at those challenges. I'll tell ya I think that something interesting just happened since I was scheduled for this program. I just recently got my issue of *inaudible* and nearly the whole issue, the January eighty-three issue is devoted to the topic of future in education so that may be a valuable resource for those people that want to-

would like use it and perhaps another journal that's most valuable in this area is futurist magazine published by the world future society [Louis] Have you had a chance to go over the- that sounds very interesting the future of education is there- are there any ideas that they maybe come up with that or have you had a chance to look at it? well I think the- there was an article in there by Diane Ravitch that is- that I found quite interesting in and she said take a look at all the revolutions that we've had in education in the last twenty years since the sixties we've had curriculum reform movement, the technological revolution, the open education movement, free-school movements de-schooling education accountability and so forth and so on you know and these things have kinda come like waves and washed over education and none have lasted too long but perhaps they've left some silt be posted behind them that serves to

shape our educational system today. [Louis] I see you talked about earlier about how you think students and maybe talk about the realization of possibilities with their- in their outlook on the future instead of stickly on a technological basis I know that's one area where most people think of when they talk about the future they think of technology and the curing of diseases and things such as that. How do you- how is it possible to convince students to maybe try to think about these other ideas than the possibilities instead of just quickly on the word of- one the wheels of technology? [Milbrandt] Well I think basically we need to recognize that technology is a vehicle it's a process that makes our the direction of our lives towards certain goals that are value laden more efficient technologies is an efficient way of proceeding along a path toward a goal the selecting of that goal is determined

by what we value technology is not value laden and in itself is value free is simply is a way to get from where we are to where we want to be in relation to our values. [Louis] So the idea of technology shouldn't really be a goal it should be kind of just the way to get somewhere and to achieve another goal I'd say [Milbrandt] It's an enabler and that perhaps is the way it best should be seeing. [Louis] How do you feel- what do you feel are the goals now I mean it's really hard to say what it's going to be like in the future but you talk about technology being used to try to achieve other goals what do you think that the goals are now maybe even like five years in the future for society not necessarily just the way we use technology to try to achieve I mean you talked about values. [Milbrandt] You know I think some of our goals need to be and I'm very concerned about this need to be the recognition that each of our- each of the members of our society as a

unique worthwhile person a resource probably our best natural resource of the human beings that reside within our society and of very little concern seems to be directed toward that topic from our government at this point in time it seems like we have a student aid programs being cut and people forced into positions that disallow their uniqueness and their individual personal developments. [Louis] What did- do you feel there is a definite lead towards lean with the government for the technology and. [Milbrandt] Oh I think that's true and I think it's maybe expected in this time a financial crunch but it's short sided certainly also. There are short term goals that are being carefully monitored with regard to

economics in our society and some of the long term goals are well I wonder what's happened to them to look at there's been some reduction in nutrition programs there's been some reduction in the programs for expectant mothers and the consequences of those decisions are going to be shaping our future in twenty years since. [Louis] And the society obviously the way- [Milbrandt] And the society that we're going to be living in. [Louis] How did you become interested in the future? [Milbrandt] Well I think the future in the study the future has a lot to do with creativity and looking at alternatives options tying together bits and pieces of information that might not have been tied together before and that to me is very much a part of what art education is art education is my field. In art education if you were to imagine what happens in art education classes even with children in public

schools what they are really into is decision making if you ask well how many decisions went into the production of a piece of art work in a public school child's life you'll find that perhaps scores and scores of decisions are made and these selections from alternatives so perhaps instead of calling art education what we've been calling it as art education we should call it decision making and maybe a visual way [Louis] that's an interesting concept obviously when you've talked about the realization of the possibilities and you seemed to be pretty optimistic as far as the future is concerned [Milbrandt] Well there doesn't seem to be any there's no point to being pessimistic is there you know why not be optimistic look at the potentials rather than crying and wailing about what might have let's see what options no alternatives abound within the challenges we face [Louis] Do you feel how do you feel that the university's can deal with the

future perspective is it impossible to to include that in the curriculum or include that in classes that are already being taught [Milbrandt] I think it would be very difficult to find courses that could not be included in I think the study of the future probably could included in almost every course that is taught on the university campus in fact I teach a class and title it stimulating creativity that asks students to predict their own future situations and the futures of the society they live in [Louis] Interesting answers there [Milbrandt] Some very interesting ones sometimes they don't sink they'll come up with a personal future for themselves that really doesn't fit into the future scene for a larger society [Louis] Do you see students really thinking a lot about the future more than just maybe a short term thing like what they're going to be doing five years from now when they get out of college do students really think about that a whole lot? [Milbrandt] I don't think so I don't think they

can they have survival kinds of concerns and they need to attend to these short term goals so unless we have formally introduce this they probably won't probably have the time or see the possibility of taking the time to look into it themselves. [Louis] So do you feel it there that the university is maybe is even at fault as far as why the reason these students don't really get into the future a whole lot [Milbrandt] Well I don't know if I could say the university is at fault and I think there's a responsibility there that may not be taking care of the best way it possibly could I believe that these questions have to be asked in all fields endeavor. There are a lot of hills of inquiry that are in our university that are content bound the content is all you know there is a body of content to know

but at some point in time we need to raise the question to what end how does this impact on society how is it going to shape our world [Louis] How do you feel students can get involved as far as they're realizing that they are the future of society mean they obviously have a responsibility as far as what's going to happen years and years from now. How do you do that do you corporate it in courses obviously. [Milbrandt] Well I saw a really unique proposal to that end recently it had to do with public schools rather than university they said before a student graduates their child graduates from public education they should have to put in one year of social service I think it has to do the whole problem has to do with moving away from an egocentric selfish, if you will, position toward one where you recognize that you're part of a whole your part of a whole world or whole society

and perhaps a year of social service might enhance that [Louis] Ok well I like to thank you very much for coming by we are out of time my guest has been Lanny Milbrandt assistant professor in the art education department here at Wichita state and we've been talking about perspectives on the future this has been universe in your community my name is Louis Foster we've had production assistance from Kirk Longhoffer -- and the noon edition will continue after this.