EDUCATION: Thinking and Skills. New Aspen Review is out!

The understanding of the role and importance of education and knowledge has undergone a dramatic change in the past decades. Is education the key to success and prosperity? How can knowledge be shared between generations in the digital age? Renowned experts discuss those crucial questions in the new issue of the Aspen Review Central Europe (3/2015). 

Three Cover Story pieces deal with the changed perception of education in Europe in the recent years. First, sociologist Frank Furedi points out to the dangers of the subordination of knowledge to skills. Professor Marcel Gauchet then speaks about the challenges educational institutions face in a digital era. Aviezer Tucker criticizes the standardization of higher education in Europe: "The general trend encouraged by the EU's Bologna Process and the massification of higher education has been to turn universities into state managed corporations dedicated to vocational training."  

Furthermore, two authors focus specifically on education in the Central European region. Jan Sowa writes about the negative impacts of Poland's educational leap after 1989, while Michael Žantovský analyses the state of education in the Central Europe and the ongoing need for reforms. 

The new issue also brings an intriguing interview with sociologist Lev Gudkov about the teaching of history in Russia and the struggles brought by regime changes. 

In the Politics section, Ilya Gerasimov looks at the most recent revolution in Ukraine from a postcolonial perspective, while Iannis Carrass suggests possible solutions for Ukraine based on the Cypriot experience. 

A broad variety of issues is analyzed in the Economy section, among them Lithuania's adoption of the euro by Zygimantas Mauricas or the arms industry in Central Europe by Martin Ehl.

In the Culture section, you can read an intriguing piece by Jakub Majmurek about the popularity of surrealism in Central Europe or a review of Milan Kundera's latest novel by the Aspen Review's Editor in Chief Aleksander Kaczorowski.