ABSTRACT
Continual social learning is the most distinctive feature of human beings. Many discussions of learning focus exclusively on organized activities related to educational institutions. This chapter documents both the continuing expansion of these "educational pyramids" and their extended reproduction throughout our lives. It considers other forms of learning which occur beyond the realm of organized educational institutions, learning which is less hierarchical and more voluntary and therefore harder to detect, measure or control. There are persisting inequities in the school system. Scholars' interpretations of general learning practices have tended to reinforce a pyramidal image of the knowledge society. Active engagement in informal learning of both recorded and tacit dimensions continues to be an integral part of the reality of the operation of knowledge-based societies and of advanced industrial workplaces. The chapter discusses points that appreciate the hidden depths of the knowledge society.
