Resnick contrasts the way we learn in school versus the way we learn outside of school. Through four major contrasts she demonstrates how "school is a special place and time for people - discontinuous in some important ways with daily life and work" (pg. 13). These four contrasts are:

1. Individual cognition in school versus shared cognition outside-- The successfulness of most learning and performance in school is judged on an individual basis rather than a group basis. The latter being more often the case in the real world. (pg. 13)

2. Pure mentation in school versus tool manipulation outside-- When it comes to the use of tools, "In school, the greatest premium is placed upon 'pure thought' activities - what individuals can do without the external support of books and notes, calculators, or other complex instruments" (pg. 13). Again, this is in constrast to the accomplishment of activites outside of school where we have and use many tools or artifacts to accomplish a particular task.

3. Symbol manipulation in school versus contextualized reasoning outside school-- The use and manipulation of symbols as representations of real objects is the way problem solving is most often accomplished in schools. Outside of school, people may use the objects themselves, as ways of solving problems in a meaningful way. (pg. 14)

4. Generalized learning in school versus situation-specific competencies outside--"To be truly skillful outside of school, people must develop situation-specific forms of competence" (pg 15). In school, learning is more generalized, creating a situation whereby "very little can be transported directly from school to out-of-school use" (pg. 15).

The author explores the role of schools in preparing people for employment, lifelong learning skills, and community responsibility. By re- introducing apprenticeship programs, improving students' development of mental skills, and increasing opportunities to work together, the gap between in-school learning and out-of-school learning can be lessened.

Resnick states that "school should focus its efforts on preparing people to be good adaptive learners, so that they can perform effectively when situations are unpredictable and task demands change" (pg. 18). The ability to adapt is very important in today's society. Advances in technology are always changing the way a particular job is done. Often new skills must be learned to keep up with the changes. We also live at a time when many companies are downsizing or shifting workers from one position to another. Again, this requires the ability to be adaptive. In this way, the generalized nature of school learning can be a benefit. It forces students to learn many different skills and domains.