Educating Citizens versus Sheep, Part 2
“What is the purpose of education? This question agitates scholars, teachers, statesmen, every group, in fact, of thoughtful men and women,” Eleanor Roosevelt wrote in the 1930 article, “Good Citizenship: The Purpose of Education,” in Pictorial Review.
Part 1 asked, what is the purpose of the US Education system? This part will address that question. We cannot assess schools and school districts unless we understand their purpose. But as Eleanor Roosevelt said, nailing down a definition is a bit tricky. It is like what Justice Stewart said in his concurring opinion in Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 US 184 (1964) when looking at a case on pornography, he said, “I know it [pornography] when I see it.”
In the interest of clarity in the narrative flow, I will keep the references below. One common thread in the references below includes civic knowledge and socialization. Curiously, while most allude to preparing people for work, they do not address the reading, writing, and arithmetic skills that were a focal point of “No Child Left Behind”.
The opening figure shows how these aspects of education fit together to support the Constitution. This gives us the framework for a draft purpose statement for US education.
The purpose of US education is to develop responsible and effective citizens that will help the US to prosper and thrive in a complex, highly competitive global economy and “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”. Citizens should be able to assess issues and information and make informed decisions on them and to support themselves and their families with minimum federal support. The US should lead the world in science and technology and be consistently ranked in the top 5 in world education rankings.
If we look at the preliminary assessment in Table 2, US ED Key Tasks, the Department of Education is at best struggling to achieve meaningful outcomes. The US is barely in the top 30 I world economic rankings.
With AI, the situation could get even worse if we do not incorporate AI wisely into our society and understand how it works. In the age of AI, education is even more important than ever before.
Preliminary Research
Let us start at the top with the Department of Education. The mission of the US Department of Education (ED) is:
ED’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.
From Pictorial Review.:
“There are many different points of view on this topic,” says Jonathan Cohen, cofounder and president of the National School Climate Center. “I think that my view, and most people’s view, is that the purpose of education is to support children in developing the skills, the knowledge, and the dispositions that will allow them to be responsible, contributed members of their community—their democratically-informed community. Meaning, to be a good friend, to be a good mate, to be able to work, and to contribute to the well-being of the community.”
Not only should children learn civic knowledge—how the electoral college works, the history of political parties, and so on—but they also need to master civic skills, which include respecting others, working collaboratively, acting in a way that is fair and just, and being an active participant in the life of the community, Cohen says.
James Harvey, a senior fellow at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, holds a similar opinion about education’s purpose. “K–12 education should prepare students for life—for college, for work, for living within a family and within a community, and for participating effectively in the democratic process,” he said.
Sir Ken Robinson and Kate Robinson call for redesigning education for the future. They think the core purpose of education has four components:
- Personal. Education should enable young people to engage with the world within them as well as the world around them.
- Cultural. Schools should enable students to understand their own cultures and to respect the diversity of others.
- Economic. Education should enable students to become economically responsible and independent.
- Social. Education should enable young people to become active and compassionate citizens.
The Department of Education website in the mission statement says:
- Congress established the U.S. Department of Education (ED) on May 4, 1980, in the Department of Education Organization Act (Public Law 96-88 of October 1979). Under this law, ED’s mission is to:
| Table , US ED Key Tasks | |
| Tasks | Pre-Assessment Notes |
| Strengthen the Federal commitment to assuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual; | Key term is “Access”. Does this mean there is a school with teachers all students can go to? If so, this task is met. But is there a quality dimension to access? |
| Supplement and complement the efforts of states, the local school systems and other instrumentalities of the states, the private sector, public and private nonprofit educational research institutions, community-based organizations, parents, and students to improve the quality of education; | Is this through federal education programs below where the tasks are to invest, create and effectively manage and coordinate programs? How are they assessed and program managers held accountable? |
| Encourage the increased involvement of the public, parents, and students in Federal education programs; | Over the last few years, the Attorney General has, in fact, discouraged public involvement and even tasked the FBI to investigate parents who tried to get information on school programs and curriculums. |
| Promote improvements in the quality and usefulness of education through Federally supported research, evaluation, and sharing of information; | What is the Constitutional authority for these programs? Perhaps it is to support the ideas in the Preamble to the Constitution? If so, then assessment metrics need to be geared toward those objectives, especially domestic tranquility and promote the general welfare. |
| Improve the coordination of Federal education programs; | First, we need to scope allowable programs, then develop assessment metrics. |
| Improve the management of Federal education activities; and | First, we need to scope allowable programs, then develop assessment metrics. |
| Increase the accountability of Federal education programs to the President, the Congress, and the public. | First, we need to scope allowable programs, then develop assessment metrics. Accountability to the public is critical. None of this is classified. Every briefing and report to the President and to Congress should be immediately and easily made available to the public. |
The Preamble
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
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