WASHINGTON — Despite the increased emphasis that has been placed on preparing students to compete in the job market, the nation’s schools and colleges must be “bold and creative” when it comes to educating students for participation in civic life, U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr., said Wednesday.
“Make preparing your students for their civic duties just as much a priority as preparing them to succeed in college and in their careers,” King said in a speech at the National Press Club.
King recalled how the Truman Commission on Higher Education recommended back in 1947 that education for civic life should be a paramount goal for higher education.
“That is just as true today,” King said. “But this goal too often has been forgotten at times, and at times education policymakers, educators, students and families have approached college as if its only worthwhile goal is as a means of success in the competitive job market.”
“But it has to be about more than that,” King continued. “Whether it’s K-12 education or higher education, we have to see it as preparing students, yes, for college and careers, and, yes, for civic participation, for citizenship, for caring about the common good and contributing to the common good.”
As an example of a math lesson that would teach students civic engagement, King suggested having students calculate the ratio of liquor stores and grocery stores to population in various neighborhoods, “and then asking the mayor why that is the case.”
King’s speech touched on topics that ranged from strained relations between the police and communities to the ongoing debate over the merits of charter schools.
