New Paradigm or Old Wine? The Status of Technology Education Practice in the United States

The notion that technology education is somehow quite different from industrial arts education has been around for half a century, when Warner and his graduate students first brought the study of technology to our field’s attention. 1 DeVore (1964) drove the point home by arguing the case for technology as an “intellectual discipline,” and many others have echoed this theme. Clark, (1989) suggested technology education represents a “new paradigm.” A Conceptual Framework for Technology Education (Savage and Sterry, 1990) proposed a structure for a curriculum grounded in the processes of technology rather than the processes of industry, thereby consummating a divorce from industrial arts in the eyes of the profession. Most recently, the Rationale and Structure for the Study of Technology (International Technology Education Association, 1996) and Standards for Technological Literacy: Content for the Study of Technology (International Technology Education Association, 2000) underscore the premise that technology education is a new and different field of study. Some have been less convinced that technology education represents a completely new “paradigm.” Foster (1994b), for example, suggested “...technology education is simply the appropriate renaming of industrial arts” (p. 16) and concluded technology education might allow for the attainment of the unrealized ideals of industrial arts. Petrina and Volk (1995) echoed Foster’s refrain, referring to technology education as old wine in a new bottle, “processed through the old winepresses of business, industry, and vocational education” (p. 33-34). McCormick (1992), alluding to the continuing legacy of industrial arts, wrote: We must learn from various traditions because they encapsulate strongly held views and years of experience that will remain, even after we have an established area of technology education.” All of this begs the question, To what