Putting the Public Back Into Public Education

When will educators and policymakers apply the heels of their hands to the center of their foreheads and say, "It's democracy, stupid!"? In his Commentary ("Beyond Public Engagement," March 27, 1996), S. Paul Reville complains that "[p]ublic engagement is seen as the sine qua non of education reform." In truth, public engagement is the sine qua non of democracy. While public education is in jeopardy, the greater threat is to our democracy.

Our democratic institutions are caught in a vicious cycle that leaves us so self-conscious about our polarity that we cannot deliberate or converse with each other in responsible dialogue. Evidence of this hits us between the eyes every day as we witness incivility in boardrooms and violence in the streets. We are not modeling for our young people that the essence of democracy is civility and persuasion. We have no time, no will for serious talk. We seek the public's opinion through surveys and polls that never really let the public finish its sentence. The experts relentlessly question: Why do we have to ask permission to do what we know is right? The public counters with: Why can't you ask first? Rarely do policymakers involve the public in deliberation of alternative choices argued with equal authority and persuasiveness.

Robert D. Putnam, the author of Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital, asks, "Whatever happened to civic engagement?" His answer cites evidence related to changes in social interactions and civic associations. "High on America's agenda should be the question of how to reverse these adverse trends in social connectedness, thus restoring civic...