Report presented by the author in the forum "Systemic Crisis, Challenges of Higher Education," sponsored by the Global Forum Topic (Chapter Venezuela), Radio Fe and Joy, Free Node, and Barometer COtTRAIN International, October 21, 2011, in the Auditorium FACES Orange, Central University of Venezuela. Education and Crisis Since this is a complex phenomenon, and aiming this discussion go from crisis education, to our global crisis and alternatives, we will only briefly mention various aspects of this crisis in education and knowledge generation that accompanies it. The problems of education in our society have in our opinion an early origin. The major changes brought about by the industrial revolution and especially the advent of mass society and the excessive growth of urban population in our culture in the early twentieth century, brought among other consequences the breakdown of traditional social institutions (extended family, provincial communities, civic, religious communities) and the birth of new forms of social interaction. If we understand education-in a broad definition, the process and institutions by which any society is responsible for providing children and young people guidelines, common knowledge and collective social values, we see that precisely those institutions that collapsed and tended to disappear quickly were the traditional society that fulfilled this role. With the progressive collapse of these institutions, the introduction of children and young people to the company was in the hands of education systems, which until that time, almost from the Middle Ages came largely through certain social strata provide specific expertise to perform specific tasks. These social institutions were not able, with its structures, methods and systems to meet objectives that overflowed. This was early perceived by different educators and philosophers, who attempted to develop new educational models that could address the situation. Some examples in the long list of these early pioneers ranging from Maria Montessori, through Ovide Decroly or John Dewey, to the experience of Alexander Neill at Summerhill that had their diffusion in the late sixties. As the century progressed , the emerging mass society was transformed into a consumer society, especially after World War II ended. The progressive development of the original industrial capitalist production system to a new system that allows mass production supplier that the consumer society, and the structural changes that occurred in the societies of the central countries (especially in the United States) also implies new changes that gave a new facet to the educational crisis. For example, the need for huge numbers of individuals for further training to meet the needs of both industry and rapidly expanding services, was making universities, increasingly standardized factories producing incremental volumes of technical professionals, abandoning his role (which maintained since the Middle Ages) social institutions of knowledge creators and hoarders. In this complex process on universities were losing their ability to research all while becoming productive capitalism was near three quarters of last century, in the current corporate neo-capitalism. Were appearing then current events continue to affect education and knowledge. 1) The accumulation of power and brought capital growth in power and size of large corporations, which have been transformed into the real masters of the planet, and the advent of globalization that trying to impose. They were taking charge of the research and production of new knowledge, bringing these activities to be specifically targeted to profit. The consequences have been severe, such as overflow development of technology as an end in itself and the progressive loss of qualitative knowledge creation (see Daniel Bell). It's been almost six decades that there are no fundamental discoveries or new general theories (with well-known exceptions such as chaos theory or the development of the Social Sciences). This is another facet of the general crisis that is directly related to education. 2) This same process and the absolute predominance of the logic of corporate capital and profit, has created a hegemonic tendency, especially from global dominance from the 80 years of what we call the neoliberal proposal, which is the commodification of culture. No longer enough to produce traditional consumer goods, it is necessary to get new "products" to expand markets and profits in its production and marketing. Cultural facts are these new "products", which of course will be "processed" by industry for greater profitability. Not only knowledge (which also is protected by a system of marks, patents and "intellectual property" controlled by corporations) but all other cultural activities such as music or production of publications, not to mention the production of both more traditional arts of audiovisual languages. 3) In this mad rush to turn every human made ​​tradable goods, the neoliberal project includes the "privatization" (the conversion of a business operation in the hands of private companies) of all social services. This must be made ​​to remove the state's traditional roles, in order to handle the utilities (water, telecommunications, energy), social security, public health, prisons, agricultural production (through GMOs and industrial monoculitivos ) and of course education. A new variable that feeds the educational crisis, the conversion of their institutions at all levels (from kindergarten to graduate school) into profitable business enterprises. The global crisis then the above suffices to appreciate as the systemic crisis of our contemporary education is part general crisis of the entire system, we suspect that even goes beyond what some define as a "crisis of capitalism" Our suspicion is that we are undergoing a process of breakdown and collapse which, being driven by cultural, rather than purely economic, refers to a collapse of civilization proposal. Who seems to be collapsing, but the capitalist system, is Western and Christian culture. This civilization was born in Europe, the Renaissance began an unprecedented expansion in the world, supported by the development of rationalist ideas that led to the development of science, the enormous growth of utilitarian technology based on it, and the secularization of its culture, which promoted religious contemplation abandoning individualism, achievement, and the conquest of the world seems to be coming in the beginning of XXI century the ultimate limits of growth. The whole system seems to be crumbling. Since the late sixties the first symptoms appeared. Social movements, protests, the oil crisis, were the first general and obvious signs that proposals seeking to impose the world were being questioned, not only from the periphery, but from the same core countries. 'aggressive response by the established power, together with the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War allowed the system to generate the "neoliberal spring" of the 80's. Having eliminated the resistance of the previous decades, sometimes with blood and fire and in Latin America by our series of terrible military dictatorships supported by the central powers, having turned off the protests in the center of the system with some "success" Welfare State and the illusion of consumption as a panacea for life imposed by a system that is increasingly corporate media, or promoting bloody wars of conquest, for nearly twenty years the world seemed to move toward the prophesied anti-havens " 1984 "or" Brave New World "under the tutelage of a hegemonic and totalizing presence. The new alternatives , however, and from the last decade of the twentieth century, things seemed to take another look. Begin to appear in the global alternatives that not only are alien to the proposal of globalization, but will be faced with increasing success. The Islamic world is becoming a problem for central control. Problems ranging from the fall of the Shah of Iran and the advent of Ayatollah regime, the succession of governments that have resisted being handled by the interests of the central powers and transnational corporations, some of them such as Iraq or the Taliban in Afghanistan, which were supported and promoted by the U.S. itself and that became his opponents, or others such as Libya (which now wants to pay him dearly for his defiance) that were the product of nationalist movements themselves. It is very curious what happens with Islam. In 1964 we had the opportunity to hear a lecture by the great British historian Arnold Toynbee, in which among other things said that the situation in the West with Islam was not yet defined. Through her ​​knowledge on the subject, when between two civilizations going on what happened between these, which one overpowering the other, the story had three alternatives: a) The civilization was overwhelmed and absorbed by the other disappeared b) Civilization overwhelmed conquering the soul of his assailant and impregnated with their values, c) Civilization again from the ashes overwhelmed and defeated his aggressor. Current events seem to highlight the last alternative.