Michael Beijer (asker) Jul 30, 2017:

good point. I will probably translate it as:

kennis- en maakmaatschappij =
knowledge and production oriented society

Jack den Haan Jul 30, 2017:

@Michael I don't think 'knowledge and production oriented' are necessarily exclusive. What your text is getting at, in my humble opinion, is that current society is driven by knowledge and production in the sense of knowledge being necessary for an economy based to large extent on production.

Michael Beijer (asker) Jul 30, 2017:

hmm Should have said that the term "maakmaatschappij" is now clear. Not my text:

"We dagen je kind uit verbanden te leggen over leergebieden heen om meer inzicht te krijgen in allerhande vraagstukken. Zo oriënteert hij zich op de moderne kennis- en maakmaatschappij waarin digitale technologie grenzen overstijgt. Onderwijs voor denken en doen én voor hart en geweten: daar gaan wij voor."

Not sure exactly what the author is trying to say here.

"... in our modern production-based and production-based society, where digital technology …" ???

Saying our society is based on knowledge and production, aka "knowledge and production oriented" is kind of like saying nothing. They sort of cancel each other out, I'd say.

I mean, certain countries/areas/demographics of the world are currently more production-based/oriented, while others are more information-based/oriented. I suppose the school(s) want to prepare their students to be able to understand and work in both scenarios, as they are both present in modern society, although we obviously seem to be moving from a production-based society towards a knowledge-based one.

Michael Beijer (asker) Jul 30, 2017:

nice and clear now :-) "We are moving from a production-based society into a knowledge-based society where human resources are becoming more important than raw materials, whose prices are in constant downfall, and where capital is no longer sufficiently profitable unless it is accompanied by the “added values” of intellectual input and innovation." (http://sciencedev.net/?p=731 )

Textpertise Jul 30, 2017:

@Phil: It seems to me that it does I may be wrong but I think it is referring to the conventional distinctions among different types of secondary and higher education systems as represented at secondary level by HAVO, VMBO and VWO, for example and that perhaps an integration is being proposed of the different streams. But without having the rest of the text to hand, I must leave it to Michael to decide whether this suggestion accords with what he has in front of him.

philgoddard Jul 30, 2017:

I don't think it's anything to do with going to university or not.

Textpertise Jul 30, 2017:

Think of the old alpha and beta streams Certain people followed a course of studies aimed at university - "the kennismaatschappij". Others followed more practical studies geared to making them more suitable to enter the world of manufacture or technology "the maakmaatschappij". Your document is talking about a type of education which seeks to integrate both of these. I'm busy on a big job at present with limited time to follow this up but I think this may be the gist of it and I'm sure I can leave the working out of the details to you.

philgoddard Jul 30, 2017:

You presumably get the overall meaning. A society that generates/deals in knowledge and commodities. There's probably a more concise way of saying it...