Learning for Life

CHAPTER 1

How Did We Get Here? A History of Education and Training in the United States

Michelle LaPointe and Jason Wingard

For millennia, skills learned as a novice were honed over decades to increase mastery but were essentially the same skills. Early in the 19th century, the majority of American workers were still employed on farms or self-employed as tradesmen or artisans. The industrial revolution changed the nature of work (see Exhibit P-2 in the Preface). By the end of the 19th century, most people were employed in low-skilled manufacturing work.¹ The pace of change in the economy only increased in the 20th century, when all types of jobs were transformed by technology. Now, in the new knowledge economy of the 21th century, change is constant, ...