Project 2 Mind Map by Sinead Malone

Question: Education

scm265 — 2025-09-27 14:18:06 UTC

What is education for?

What is the purpose of education?
- STEM education --> attaining jobs --> equality
- Civic education --> civic agency --> equality

Vocational Paradigm

scm265 — 2025-09-27 14:18:40 UTC

"Such arguments from economists—that vocationalism
generally and STEM in particular are the solutions both
for inequality and for America's ostensibly precarious
global economic standing—have been widely adopted at
the highest levels of government."(Allen 10).

Equality through STEM focused education

scm265 — 2025-09-27 14:30:10 UTC

Participatory Paradigm

scm265 — 2025-09-27 14:30:53 UTC

"Education, they argue, fosters participation because
it prepares people for democratic engagement. Reading,
writing, and collaboration are, after all, the basic instruments of political action."(Allen 11)

Humanities are important aspects of education --> democracy

Equality through civic education

scm265 — 2025-09-27 14:31:06 UTC

"While the technological view of the link between education and equality reinforces a vocational approach to curriculum and pedagogy, a participatory view demands a renewed focus on the humanities and social sciences."(Allen 11)

humanities/social sciences are necessary aspects of education in order to attain equality

Objection

scm265 — 2025-09-27 15:15:41 UTC

the view on education has been narrowed to solely focus on the path of the vocational education
the truth to achieve democracy and justice lies in that of the civic education

Conclusion

scm265 — 2025-09-27 15:30:49 UTC

" What is more, defending the right to civic education, and the kind of curriculum that delivers it, would benefit not only individual students but also society as a whole, advancing both political equality and distributive justice."(Allen 13)

"...the reliance on an exclusively vocational paradigm as the sole guide to education policymaking is a failure to meet the legal standard for securing a basic right. Precisely those parts of the K-12 curriculum most vulnerable during a recession—humanities, social studies, arts, and extracurricular activities such as debate and model UN—deserve rights-based legal protection."(Allen 13)

achieve justice --> civic education
civic education has a spot in policymaking for a reason
- democracy

Preparation for workforce

scm265 — 2025-10-05 14:18:55 UTC

STEM education --> higher paying jobs --> better opportunities and increased equality

"By the early 1990s, economists had identified technological change, which biased available jobs toward high-skilled workers, as the primary culprit. It was a short step from this diagnosis to the argument that education was the remedy."(Allen 10)

Preparation for Democracy

scm265 — 2025-10-05 14:28:49 UTC

"An education that prepares every student for civic and political engagement not only supports political equality but may also lead to increased economic fairness."(Allen 11)

Being educated in humanities and civic issues prepares students for political equality, therefore leading to a more likely increase in economic fairness

Humanities as a basis for a well rounded education

scm265 — 2025-10-05 14:29:37 UTC

"But if the STEM fields gave us the mass in “mass democracy,’’ the humanities and social sciences gave us the democracy."(Allen 12)

"Reading, writing, and collaboration are, after all, the basic instruments of political action."(Allen 11)

Humanities are an important foundation for all education. Knowing how to properly read, write, and discuss prepares students for success with being participants in the world. Additionally, it prepares students to be participants in a democratic society.

Evidence - Prioritizing STEM education isn't the key to achieving equality

scm265 — 2025-10-05 19:14:29 UTC

" It is not that civic education is incompatible with professional training, but policymakers, education specialists, and many parents—including low-income parents, whose children are most likely to see their civic education shortchanged have narrowed their focus exclusively to the economic field."(Allen 10)