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Education should not be limited to vocational training but should prepare students for civic engagement and political participation.

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Equal Opportunity and the Vocational paradigm

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Equal Opportunity and the Vocational paradigm

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The importance of establishing a standard for vocational and technical education for the modern citizen is an essential component in Allen's argument in bringing up the practicality and necessity of accessible education.

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Participatory readiness involves the willingness to have an involved and measurable impact within our communities, with these abilities being honed on and strengthened during our time in school where we are in such communities.

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In Danielle Allen's What Is Education For, she argues that education is expected to do more than lead individuals into a profession. Education is expected to prepare individuals for an active practice of citizenship and democracy. The prevailing dominant education model, referred to by Allen as the vocational paradigm, perceives school mainly as occupational training. However, Allen challenges this with an alternative, the participatory paradigm, which approaches education as a process for nurturing citizens competent and disposed toward thoughtful engagement with the world.

Allen recalls that such a focus on vocational and STEM education really started with the Cold War, with the passage of the National Defense Education Act of 1958. Such a focus could have made America competitive in science and tech, but of course, it still came at a cost. The humanities, civics, and others were gradually left out of focus, and since then, it has been forgotten that a primary purpose of education is teaching students to be responsible, politically engaged citizens.

This is backed by economists Joseph Stiglitz and Thomas Piketty, among others, who believe that this inequality is not only a result of the working of the economy, but instead a result of policies that were created. Yet when students are given no education with which to understand and change those policies, they are practically given no way to meaningfully do anything in context to policies in the world. And so, education in that sense is what allows students to make a direct change or even an indirect role within it. Allen is not arguing for the extreme to get rid of STEM either. She believes, though, that it must be better balanced into a more equally weighted system with a better foundation of humanities and social sciences, too. That's the equilibrium that teaches students, not merely for jobs, but for thought, for engagement, and for making a genuine difference in what they do and in who they are.

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Allens Proposition and the Participatory Paradigm

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Allens Proposition and the Participatory Paradigm

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Allen proposes that education should prepare individuals for active civic participation, implying political equality and democratic engagement with this increased participation. This would be improved in school through subjects such as humanities and social sciences as they are crucial in developing the skills needed for informed decision-making and possible social change.

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The vocational paradigm places economic objectives above participation in civil affairs.

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The vocational paradigm places economic objectives above participation in civil affairs.

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The focus on STEM and workforce development originated from Cold War anxieties and the race to the moon landing, with the 1958 National Defense Education Act being proof of that. This focus diverted attention from civics education and framed education as a tool of economic competition rather than democratic participation (Allen, p. 9).

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Policies that tend to favor vocational education tend to correlate to economic inequality.

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Policies that tend to favor vocational education tend to correlate to economic inequality.

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Joseph Stiglitz and Thomas Piketty argue that inequality is not a result of markets but rather a matter of public policy (Allen, p. 10). Analysts who reduce education to get people ready to work rather than empower people as citizens do not face up to forces of wealth inequality built into structures.

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Vocational and participatory training don't have to be mutually exclusive

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Vocational and participatory training don't have to be mutually exclusive

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While vocational training teachers students technical skills, it can be combined along with a civics education. Allen believes that a. mix of both approaches might be in the best interests of learners but argues that the current government prioritizes vocational objectives at the expense of citizens' preparation (Allen, p. 12).

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Economic policies affect both political participation and access to education.

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Economic policies affect both political participation and access to education.

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Among other things, Rodrik and Acemoglu emphasize that inequality is a product of political decision-making rather than technological progress (Allen, p. 10). If students do not have civic education, they cannot critically examine policies that continue to grow inequality and not shorten the growing gap. This simply means that the population is kept dumb or servant in the best interest of government, which is to NOT have equality.

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Schools must teach their students to be politically engaged, by introducing more humanities courses

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Schools must teach their students to be politically engaged, by introducing more humanities courses

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It was found that humanities majors have higher political engagement than STEM graduates, and this shows a liberal education's worth (Allen, p. 12).

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Reviving civics can create both political and economic equality

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Reviving civics can create both political and economic equality

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State constitutions require civic education, yet this requirement is undermined and underfunded consistently, being left to secondary importance (Allen, p. 13). Civic learning must be prioritized so students can fight against economic inequalities, allowing education to support democratic and not just vocational interests. This would be a positive benefit towards society.

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What we can do now is to reinvest, urgently and carefully, into our civic education. This starts with the policies we implement, where state and federal governments began to prioritize our funding for humanities and social sciences without cutting STEM fields. These implementations in schools require civics courses and courses that cultivate participatory readiness, whether it be skills in dialogue, critical thinking, ethical reasoning, political engagement, or other skills aimed towards being a better contributing member of society.

At the level of our community, we advocate for a balance and vocational preparation with liberal education to ensure our students do not end up feeling like just workers but citizens with duties greater than ourselves. The people will be able to feel these goals and see action being taken within the partnerships that schools and local civic organizations form to provide real opportunities for community and political engagement, especially within areas in which it is not accessible. And finally, we have to change our definition of educational success, to not only how economically successful our students are, but how prepared they are to succeed in life following an education that we hope instills a curiosity and understanding of the world they soon inherit from us. Civic agency must be seen as not a luxury, but the foundation of future education for our society.

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Thank you for reading and taking the time to consider this. In a world that treats education as a transactional experience, simply caring about its effects and deeper purpose is the start of a change.

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This project made me realize and think about education in a way I hadn't thought of before. Before this, education was just another way for someone to make more money or get ahead. Sure, some people enjoy learning, but most have to do this to have a more stable income to survive. But I realized how wrong I was in that now, and how one-dimensional that view of education is. I recognize the message that education today is in a broad a way to connect people around the world and in our societies, and in reading her arguments I slowly started to believe more in what she was saying, and when I would write her arguments would feel less like me repeating what she said but an intentional rephrasing of how I see it too.

One of the things I saw throughout my analysis and argument mapping was the importance of clarity. It's very easy to spurt out facts and information that don't connect with the broader argument, or information that acts as a barrier between getting the message to the reader. Strong writing is grounded in how it can be understood, not an inflation of words, or interesting writing techniques that make the message unclear. This is true in all aspects of life, but it's more important to be understood than to feel right or smart about something.

Moving forward, I want to hold these lessons in my future writing, especially the importance of finding what question is being asked and genuinely thinking about the answer, even when the answer is already presented to you. To think about it so that you understand it, rather than just having read it, you know. And I've realized that writing isn't just about conveying information, but communicating something that can be thoughtful, transparent, and honest. We all use language to communicate, but how we approach it makes the difference in reaching the people we want to get and saying what we want. I plan to adopt that mindset entirely outside this project, along with this class shaping my future work, both in and outside a classroom.

Thanks again.