“What is Education for?” By Danielle Allen by Laura Tanoue

Education is for preparing young students to become knowledgable and active civic agents, capable of participating in the democratic process so that one may diminish inequalities that segregate communities within the society.

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 14:14:24 UTC

Jargon

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 14:25:35 UTC

Civic education
Civic agency - co-creating a way of life through policies, laws, and other legal/political systems
Vocational capacities -
Civic participants
Meaningful civic participation
Competitive employment
Vocational purpose - the goal to ensure that young people, and society, can compete in a global economy.
Technocratic economic policy
Genuine political equality
Participatory readiness
Human capital
Global economic competitiveness
Wage premium
Supermanagers - sky-high executive pay
Hypermeritocracy -
Political equality - empowering all to participate capably in the life of policy
Citizenship - activity of co-creating a way of life, of world-building. Extends beyond legal categories of membership in political units.
Frame shifting

Counter argument:

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 14:36:33 UTC

Economists argue that focusing on vocational education, specifically the dissemination of technological skills and STEM, will create economic equality in a society.

Rebuttal

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 14:37:23 UTC

While vocational education is necessary, it must be balanced with education in liberal arts because there are many other aspects of society, in which people face bias and systematic disadvantages, not just in the economic area. In addition, economic inequality is an outgrowth of politics. Therefore, combatting income inequality requieres the dissemination of skills AND also social and political change

Subtopic 1:

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 14:37:53 UTC

An education that prepares every student for civic and political engagement, allowing citizens to analyze problems in society and push for new policies that will address these.

Subtop 2:

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 14:38:01 UTC

An education that prepares students to become civic agents also allows them to recognize if the government is meeting their responsibility to secure the people’s rights and safety.

Evidence:

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 17:11:07 UTC

According to Rising above the Gathering Storm by the National Academy of Sciences, “An educated, innovative, motivated workforce- human capital- is the most precious resource of any country in this new, flat, world… Yet there is widespread concern about our K-12 science and mathematics education system, the foundation of that human capital in today’s global economy”

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 17:15:32 UTC

Claudia Goldin and Larry Katz’s book the Race between Education and Technology (2008) concluded that “…technological change biased available jobs towards high-skilled workers, as the primary culprit.”

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 17:20:10 UTC

In Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2014), French economist Thomas Piketty writes, “ Historical experience suggest that… the poor catch up with the rich to the extent that they achieve the same level of technological know-how, skill, and education”

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 17:37:37 UTC

In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama announced a competition that encouraged schools to “… focus on science, technology, engineering and math- the skills today’s employers are looking for to fill jobs right now and in the future.”

Evidence:

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 18:33:11 UTC

Edward L. Glaesser, Giacomo Ponzetto, and Andrei Schleifer argue that “ Education fosters participation because it prepares people for democratic engagement,” in their 2006 paper “Why Does Democracy Need Education?” They state that education cultivates skills that facilitate participation (reading, writting and “soft skills” of collaboration and interaction), and participation leads to material benefits (increased income).

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 18:40:41 UTC

Daron Acemoğlu and Jim Robinson argue that the expansion of political participation drove egalitarian economic reforms in Britain in the 19th century and the United States in the eary 20th.

Reasoning

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 18:44:25 UTC

The participation of people from different communities in government decisions, puts issues of disruptive justice on the agenda of government officials. Advocating for change in differences people live regarding their economical status, forces government officials to work on drafting policies that will address these issues. Ultimately, actively participating in law making decisions, not only supports political equality but may also lead to increased economic fairness.

Implications

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 19:06:03 UTC

Somethings Allen did not consider are:

how increasing focus in liberal arts courses will increase the tax parents will have to pay or the tuition for a school since an improvement in classes needs funding.
If the plan is to just redirect some of the STEM funding to the liberal arts, how will this affect the quality of the STEM classes the students will be taking or the quality of teachers the school can now afford.

Reasoning

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 19:17:20 UTC

To make judgements about the course of human events and our government’s role in them, we need history, anthropology, sociology, not to mention math- especially statistic reasoning necessary for probabilistic judgement. If we are to decide on what will bring about safety and happiness, surely we need philosophy and literature. Then, since the democratic citizen does not make or execute judgements alone, we need the arts of conversation, eloquence, and prophetic speed.

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 19:46:27 UTC

Data from the Department of Education reveal that among 2008 college graduates, 92.8% of humanities majors have votes at least once since finishing school. Among STEM majors, that number is 83.5%. And within ten years of graduation, 44.1% of 1993 humanities graduates had written to public officials, compared to 30.1% of STEM majors.

lht27_1 — 2024-10-09 19:49:28 UTC

High SAT verbal scores correlate with increased likelihood of political participation, while high SAT math scores correlate with decreased likelihood of participation.