Argument Map by Jordan Lev

The Vocational Paradigm

jml712 — 2025-10-06 22:35:36 UTC

Years of policies that emphasized STEM education.

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STEM

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(Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)

Civic Education

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(Humanities and the Social Sciences)

The Sputnik Crisis (1957)

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The Soviet Union launched the first satellite (Sputnik), sparking the fire that would become the "Space Race."

A Nation at Risk (1983)

jml712 — 2025-10-06 22:43:54 UTC

A report released by the Reagan administration that said U.S. schools were failing, making the country weak and noncompetitive.

Job-Ready Intitiatives (2013, 2016)

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Pushed schools to teach skills that helped students to get jobs quickly, like computer science or technology.

Civic agency should be more emphasized in schools.

jml712 — 2025-10-06 22:53:05 UTC

The Vocational Paradigm

jml712 — 2025-10-06 22:58:33 UTC

Schooling slowly de-emphasizes civic education in favor of STEM and vocational education.

Economists' Proposed Solution

jml712 — 2025-10-06 23:02:17 UTC

Economics like Piketty, Goldin and Katz argued that inequality can be solved through the diffusion of skills.

Social and Economic Inequality

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Diffusion of Skills

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Inequality will be resolved if everyone has the same scientific and technological capacity.

Inequality is politically constructed.

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Economists, namely Stiglitz, Rodrik, Acemoglu and Robinson, belive that it cannot be solved solely economically.

Quotes

jml712 — 2025-10-06 23:10:44 UTC

"Inequality has been a choice." (Stiglitz)

"They (economic inequalities) are products of policy choices, which are themselves the outcome of politics." (Rodrik)

"It is the institutions...that determine...how the gains from various different economic arrangements are distributed." (Acemoglu & Robinson)

The Participatory Paradigm

jml712 — 2025-10-06 23:11:41 UTC

Danielle Allen (the author)'s vision of what education should be.

Education should develop participatory readiness.

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Allows citizens to deliberate, judge, and act, all as a group.

Participatory Readiness

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The methods through which people can govern their own respective worlds, whether it be national or local.

Methods

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Voting, writing to elected officials, taking part in the democratic process in an impactful way.

The Liberal Arts

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These are important because they cultivate the knowledge and skills necessary to take part in a democracy.

Democratic Citizenship

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Requires, judgement, reasoning, and education, all of which are built by the humanities and social sciences. (Liberal Arts)

Data

jml712 — 2025-10-06 23:21:31 UTC

Humanities majors vote and write to elected officials at a higher rate than STEM majors. (92.8% to 83.5%)

High verbal scores on the SAT correlate with higher levels of civic engagement, while high math scores on the SAT do not.

The Participatory Paradigm

jml712 — 2025-10-06 23:25:51 UTC

The liberal arts should be as emphasized, if not more than, vocational and STEM training in schools.

Key

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Yellow = Claim

Red = Problem

Blue = Solution

Green = Evidence

Purple = Conclusion

What is Education For?

jml712 — 2025-10-06 23:27:48 UTC

Education should not only prepare students with vocational training, but also cultivate civic agency.

Inequality is politically constructed, and must be deconstructed through civic agency, like voting.

jml712 — 2025-10-06 23:28:18 UTC

Must reintigrate the roles of citizen, activist, and politican to allow the problem of inequality to be solved by the people.

jml712 — 2025-10-06 23:28:31 UTC

Civic education is a legal and moral right, not just "useless" classes to be set aside.

jml712 — 2025-10-06 23:28:42 UTC