Dieting Advice for Education Advocates

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If you care about public education in the United States and want to shed a few pounds, have I got a diet for you:

1. Run a lap each time you hear somebody frame the purpose of K-12 education in terms of "developing 21st century skills for the workforce" or "supporting vibrant regional economies."

2. Reward yourself with an extra helping of mashed potatoes each time somebody asserts that the primary goal of education should be to help create good citizens with the knowledge and skills necessary for participating meaningfully in a democracy.

My guess is that you’ll be ready for that yellow polka dot bikini in no time at all.

I remember being surprised by a 60 Minutes episode many years back when a reporter—was it Morley Safer?—lamented the declining state of public education. His primary concern was the effect this decline would have on corporations and their ability to hire skilled workers. There was no mention, as I recall, of what it might mean for our democracy to produce high school graduates unable to write a coherent paragraph, understand a simple op ed, or locate the Atlantic Ocean on a map of the world.

Was I witnessing the divergence of a new species, Homo economicus, from its less well adapted cousin, Homo democraticus? The business sector has had a big say in framing the purpose of K-12 education. Have government and nonprofit voices been muted by comparison?

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Image source: Música y Recuerdos

Comments

[Amy Harbison]

Good to seeing you getting your groove back, Dr. R!

[Bruce Trachtenberg]

Careful, Albert, people might take some of what you say quite seriously and start responding accordingly. Think of fix we'd be in if that were to happen. And after that, what would be left to grouse about?

[Mike Edwards]

hi Albert, what does a mere scribbler have to do to get a reply from you now that you're installed in the high command of the foundation world? I sent you two emails via the GNOF mailbox recently without any response (your personal email there appears to be unlisted), so I'm resorting to public embarrassment via your blog to see if this works!

Yours in hope,

Mike Edwards
[email protected]