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A framework of thinking about educational policy that emphasizes preparing students with the ability to participate in society.

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A perspective about educational policy that emphasizes acquiring skills that focus on STEM.

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The participatory paradigm requires higher education, meaning underfunded schools must receive more resources to achieve educational equality.

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Education should not solely prepare students for vocational skills but also equip them to participate in society.

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Judge Leland DeGrasse increased school funding to promote the twelfth-grade education of social studies and economics. The Court ordered New York City to increase school funding.” Additionally, the court agreed that “meaningful civic participation” and prospects for “competitive employment,” not simply minimum-wage employment, demanded a twelfth-grade level of verbal and math skills and similarly advanced competence in social studies and economics (Allen 2).

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This level of education was deemed to be the standard that is needed to understand the basics of society.

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Education supports political equality and increased economic fairness

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Acemoglu and Robinson argue, "the expansion of political participation drove egalitarian economic reforms in Britain in the nineteenth century and the United States in the early 20th. We are currently seeing a resurgence of participation on both the right and left. These movements, dubbed populist by many commentators, are putting issues of distributive justice on the agenda once again."

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There are three tasks in relation to civic agency.

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Allen states that the three tasks are: disinterested deliberation around a public problem, second is prophetic work intended to shift a society’s values; in the public opinion and communications literature, this is now called “frame shifting,” and finally, there is transparently interested “fair fighting,” where a given public actor adopts a cause and pursues it passionately.

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The National Academy of Sciences’ Rising above the Gathering Storm again emphasized the need for significant improvements in science and technology education, these disciplines had already been consolidated under the umbrella of STEM, a concept that has been employed with equal gusto by education reformers and politicians.

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National Defense Education Act, signed into law in 1958, which increased funding for science and math education, as well as vocational training.

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Education is the driving force behind democracy.

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In 2006, paper "Why Does Democracy Need Education?" written by economists Edward L. Glaeser, Giacomo Ponzetto, and Andrei Shleifer argue that education is a catalyst for democracy. They explain the relationship between education and preparation.

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Vocationalism and STEM are the solutions for inequalities and the economy.

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Allen disagrees with this stating that, the purely technocratic treatment of income and wealth inequality is blind and shortsighted as it disregards the multiple other forms of inequalities affecting society.

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we all deserve the right to an adequate civic education which will not only benefits students but society as a whole. With education, we will be able to have more equality and political participation.

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Vocational education prepares students for jobs/careers in specific professions and industries. STEM education was promoted because it was believed that it would benefit the individual and solve problems of inequality. Additionally, those educated in STEM would contribute to the advancement of America and its economy.

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Students must be able to enact all three of these skills ethically in order to be “officially” ready for civic agency.

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The liberal arts train students for political engagement.

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"Data from the Department of Education reveal that, among2008 college graduates, 92.8 percent of humanities majors have voted at least once since finishing school. Among stem majors, that number is 83.5 percent. And, within ten years of graduation, 44,1 percent of 1993 humanities graduates had written to public officials, compared to 30.1 percent of STEM majors. As college graduates, the students are generally of similar socioeconomic backgrounds, suggesting that other distinctions must account for the difference in political engagement"(Allen 6).

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Those who are academically well rounded and have some aspect of humanities education are often more prepared to participate in democracy.

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According to the paper referenced, education also promotes skills of collaboration and civic engagement because these are basic “instruments” in political action. Additionally, education is an important factor that allows students to be fully prepared for participation.

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When more people are involved in politics it can lead to important changes that can make the economy fairer for everyone. People have different perspectives and will question fairness and how resources are shared in society. More people participating in politics advocate for change that helps create a more equal economy.