INITIAL PRACTICAL ABILITIES

 

The proper role of education in the US, including that of public schools, is to prepare young ones to be functioning adults in a democracy.[1]  More specifically, in order to fulfill the democratic requisite to provide equal opportunity, an individual has a right to a public education and the preparation that education provides.

          A secondary responsibility of the educational system is directed at society:  that is to develop citizens who are responsible in their duties as prescribed by law and to some extent by customs.  And to do this, certain goals need to be identified and achieved.  That is, in order to be functional and responsible, adults should:

 

·       know certain knowledge (for example, how local government functions within the nation’s federal system),

·       be able to reflectively process certain information (for example, figure out how local government agents rank in power allocations),

·       be able to form conclusions and evaluations (for example, judge how effective the acts of various agents are in relation to citizen’s desires or needs) and,

·       at least, be willing to engage in rational thought and discussion among themselves and with others (for example, in discussion, treat opposing arguments reasonably and objectively).

 

But as with most social concerns, when addressing these fundamental requirements, one deals with certain complexities.

          For example, the educational school system must avoid indoctrinating value positions even if one is addressing basic functions.  But this is not as straight forward as it might seem initially.  Just promoting the notion that students make up their own minds over social issues, assuming choices are within legal limits, is a fine notion but oversimplified.

Why?  Because that view, if held in an uncompromising way, promotes a holistic view about how one sees the way societies should be governed and what economic system they should sustain.  That would be a liberal – as in classical liberalism – capitalist nation and with that, it entails a lot of policy biases – e.g., biases against welfare-based policy choices.  In short, no approach to civics education is totally value free and commits some level of indoctrination.

So, to be functional or responsible about content choices does not prohibit the acceptance of a list of preordained values no matter how pro or anti-individual rights they may sound.  The only exception is the value of being rational on which modern life is dependent.  All this is pointed out to further couch the suggestion that the last posting proposed, i.e., the adoption of a consumer government approach to secondary civics and American government courses. 

This change would have as its aim to shift attention from the structure of government and a national focus – where current civics instruction lies – to how individuals’ roles and duties can and should function in more local environments.  This is seen as a midway step to adopting a civics curriculum based on a liberated federalism construct.[2]  While this suggested approach can be described as eclectic, this blog will emphasize its progressive qualities. 

Mostly, its progressive quality would be reflected in how the suggested approach addresses student interests, but this is geared toward having students seeking satisfaction in their communities, towns, and cities.  This would naturally lead toward interacting with local fellow citizens, their neighbors, in dealing with governmental issues and problems.

On a practical basis, this more local emphasis shifts most students’ attention from book information to community information.  A shift in concern is also anticipated from a third-person perspective to a first-person perspective as more attention to local and personnel conditions is more likely to be achieved.  Assuming the reader agrees that these changes are preferable, this blog will continue presenting this proposal in its next post.

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[1] For example, see Brett Grell, “Public Education:  Definition, Purpose, & Importance, Study.com, November 21, 2023, accessed March 20, 2024, URL:  https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-the-purpose-of-public-education.html#:~:text=The%20original%20purpose%20of%20public,These%20goals%20continue%20today.

[2] This blog has dedicated a good deal of text to describing and explaining this view of governance and politics.  For the purposes of this posting, the reader should understand that the view promotes a partnership sense of citizenship in which all citizens are in it together to advance the betterment of the commonwealth.  At the same time, it provides a strong defense of individual rights but not as a radical element, i.e., it recognizes that individuals have duties and responsibilities toward the nation.