Chau Le's Argument Map by

Main Idea

nnl31 — 2024-10-09 22:07:44 UTC

An education should teach people beyond technical skills; it should also focus on participatory readiness, teaching people how to contribute and engage in their society. This is important to the formation of equality through education.

Because...

nnl31 — 2024-10-09 22:10:03 UTC

The main purpose of education isn't only to develop technical skills, but also civic agency. Civic agency is the ability to be involved in society and be concerned for the common good

But..

nnl31 — 2024-10-09 22:10:28 UTC

Economists have argued that vocational education is a solution to inequality and America's economic status, which STEM have been widely implemented at the highest level of government.

Since...

nnl31 — 2024-10-09 22:13:19 UTC

In the case where the government fails to perform its duty, it is the duty of the citizens to find another direction. This requires citizen to be able to identify the social circumstance, decide the core principle of the political order, and searching for alternatives to the formal organization of state power.

Evidence

nnl31 — 2024-10-09 22:14:17 UTC

Economists Edward L. Glaeser, Giacomo Ponzetto, and Andrei Shleifer argued in “Why Does Democracy Need Education?” that education forms democracy. There are three hypotheses as to why this statement is true:

1) Through indoctrination.

2) Through gaining skills that promote participation.

3) Through increased material benefits for participation.

The three economists were in favor of the second hypothesis because they believed education fosters participation since reading, writing and collaboration are basic instruments of political actions.

(Allen 11)

Evidence

nnl31 — 2024-10-09 22:14:46 UTC

In the 1980s, there are consensus that vocational education plays an essential role in global economic competitiveness. Economists began to draw closer links between education and inequality. By the early 1990s, they identified that technological change favored higher-skilled workers; this means education, especially in STEM, is the remedy for inequality.

However...

nnl31 — 2024-10-09 22:17:14 UTC

Economic inequality stems from politics.

Evidence

nnl31 — 2024-10-09 22:17:47 UTC

Economist Piketty agreed that wage levels based on skills and the wealth gap can only partially explain the growing U.S. income inequality. The distribution of wealth and resources are result of political choices. Income for top earners (or supermanagers) reflects the social acceptance of sky-high executive pay. These social norms reinforce a political idealogy called “hypermeritocracy”. It makes more sense to focus on politics first instead of economic equality (Allen 6).

More explanation...

nnl31 — 2024-10-09 23:17:45 UTC

Civic agency requires a curriculum focusing on liberal arts. To judge the course of human events and the government role in those events, we need subjects such as history, cultural studies, political science, sociology, etc. To discuss what forms happiness and safety, we need philosophy, literature, and religion or its history. However, democracy is about making decisions as a group. Therefore, we need also learn the arts of conversation, eloquence, and prophetic speech.

Evidence

nnl31 — 2024-10-09 23:30:18 UTC

Statistically, STEM graduates participate in politics less compared to humanities graduates. Data released by the Department of Education in 2008 showed that 92.8 percent of humanities graduates voted at least once, while only 83.5% of STEM graduates voted. Additionally, in 1993, within ten years of graduation, 44.1 percent of humanities graduates had written to public officials, compared to 30.1 percent of STEM graduates (Allen 10).