Reply #211: hell yes there's a point

[jobendorfer]

First, I'd like to thank the many teachers who have contributed
to this thread for their hard and often thankless work in our
schools.

Second, "Is there a point to public education at all?" -- the
answer is yes, for two reasons. An educated, critically thinking
citizenry is essential to a healthy democracy. We should also
consider that a living income these days requires skills (the days
in which we could move west 500 miles, plant crops, and make a
living are long gone). Since private education is beyond the
means of most Americans, high quality public education is a
must-have thing.

Third, an observation. I think there are two diffent
components of debate that are getting confused.

One component of the debate is: what role should public
education play in preparing our children and young adults for
participation in political and economic life?

The other component of debate is: given an answer to the first
question, how can the public education system get better at
achieving its objectives? (At the risk of reiterating what
others have said better, our teaching professionals have a
LOT of good advice for us here.)

We seem to spend a lot more time arguing about the second question
than considering the first. Myself, I'd like to see public
education concentrate on four things:

1. Critical thinking skills
2. History
3. Participation in the arts (because I believe this teaches
something almost entirely lost in our culture: a sense of
proportion and balance)
4. Learning how to learn, on the assumption that learning is
a lifelong process (anybody out there still using 7400 series
logic?)

Okay, that's my $.02.

J.