President’s Perspective
What’s Old is New Again
as EDmarket Turns 100!
“Education is
not preparation for
life; education is
life itself.
— John Dewey,
1916
JIM MCGARRY,
EDmarket President & CEO
6 essentials | winter 2016
I
t was in 1916 that 17 brave individuals got together in Chicago
to form the National School Supply Association. It was not the
easiest time to begin an alliance because Woodrow Wilson was
president and rigidly opposed to combinations and trusts, and the
Clayton Anti-Trust and Federal Trade Commission Acts placed tight
conditions on the establishment of trade associations. Tensions in the
nation were also very high because of the potential U.S. involvement
in World War I, but they persevered.
This was also the year that American
philosopher, psychologist and education reformer John Dewey published
his ground-breaking book: Democracy
and Education. An Introduction to the
Philosophy of Education. Fast forward
to today and after five name changes
and hundreds of education reform models the Education Market Association
(EDmarket) is well positioned to help
our members succeed in the fast-paced,
digital learning world. For the last 100
years your association has been at the
center of bringing together the industry’s most innovative manufacturers and
publishers with the best dealers and
distributors to impact every student’s
education experience, both physically
and mentally.
Back in the 1980s when Buckminster
Fuller created the “Knowledge Doubling Curve”, he noticed that until 1900
human knowledge doubled approximately every century. By the end of
World War II knowledge was doubling
every 25 years. Today things are not as
simple. Different types of knowledge
have different rates of growth, but on
average, human knowledge is doubling
every 13 months. It is projected that
the build out of the “internet of things”
will lead to the doubling of knowledge
every 12 hours. With this increase in
knowledge, not just students, but everyone will need to be a lifelong learner.
These are exciting and challenging
times in the classroom and the opportunities to take new ideas to market have
never been greater. These are also very
complex times where customer relationships are evolving and business models
are changing. The need is just as great
today as it was in 1916 for the education
industry to have a strong, forward-thinking trade association that can bring channel partners together, share best practices
and knowledge and help its members
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