Opinion
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion

Schools Have a Nobler Purpose Than Just Career Prep

Parents need regular reminders of the broader purposes of public schools
By Johann N. Neem — July 25, 2018 3 min read
Two young kids (one girl and one boy) dressed up as old people, holding hands, and standing in front of an empty light blue wall.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

We Americans are busy. We work, shop, cook, take care of the kids, and have little time left over. At a time of growing inequality, for many it feels like a struggle just to stay in place. Naturally, we are concerned about our children’s future. We wonder whether schools are preparing them for a changing economy.

I’m a parent. I want to do all that I can to help my children, although I’m not always sure what that might be.

That’s why we parents need regular reminders of the broader purposes of public schools. Instead of providing us those reasons, education reformers of the 21st century appeal to our fears and our pocketbooks. We are told again and again that our children will not get jobs unless they excel—and that our schools are failing. Children need to be prepared for “college and career,” but not, it seems, to be citizens or flourishing human beings.

This is a problem that has been growing for years. The Common Core State Standards’ authors considered the civic and humanistic benefits of education as a “natural outgrowth” of high standards, not a purpose for them. As one Dayton, Ohio, Chamber of Commerce member put it in 2014, students are educated “so that they can be an attractive product for business to consume and hire.” Or, as former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stated in 2012 that then-President Barack Obama “knows education is about jobs.”

Children need to be prepared for 'college and career,' but not, it seems, to be citizens or flourishing human beings.

There is nothing wrong with schools preparing Americans for work and encouraging social mobility. Parents reasonably expect schools to offer their children economic opportunities, and all Americans benefit from a vibrant economy. But these goals are not enough. Today, we need reformers who appeal to the better angels of our nature. We need the kind of reformers who promote the ideals that the founders of our schools did over a century ago, most notably Horace Mann.

Mann—the first Massachusetts Board of Education Secretary in the 1830s—called us to be better selves. He used his bully pulpit to celebrate the true purpose of public education. He argued that a child’s right to public education “begins with the first breath he draws.” Children need more than food and shelter; they have minds, hearts, and souls.”

Mann reasserted what the founders had said: In a republic, every citizen must be educated with the knowledge to make good decisions and to have empathy. “As each citizen is to participate in the power of governing others,” he wrote, “it is an essential preliminary that he should be imbued with a feeling for the wants, and a sense of the rights, of those whom he is to govern; because the power of governing others, if guided by no higher motive than our own gratification, is the distinctive attribute of oppression.”

Indeed, Mann hoped that public schools would foster economic opportunity, but not place economic success above other goods. To Mann, public schools should encourage public-mindedness, not just personal ambition.

Other antebellum education reformers agreed. John Pierce, the new state of Michigan’s first superintendent of public schools, celebrated public schools where “all classes are blended together; the rich mingle with the poor ... and mutual attachments are formed.” James Henry Jr., then superintendent of schools in Herkimer County, N.Y., believed that public schools would prepare every American to “discharge his duties as an individual, as a member of society, and as a citizen of a free State.”

We have struggled to meet these aspirations in a society segregated by class and race. Yet, antebellum reformers’ civic ideals continued to inspire advocates of public education.

In the 1990s, supporters of national standards in the George H.W. Bush administration offered three reasons to improve achievement: “to promote educational equality, to preserve democracy and enhance the civic culture, and to improve economic competitiveness.”

But that pursuit of “economic competitiveness” seems to crowd out the others today. This a real lowering of our expectations.

That’s why we need a new generation of reformers to inspire us Americans again with the public purposes of public education. They will not come from the top down in the form of corporate reform; they must emerge from the grass roots. In many communities across the country, this is already happening.

When we vote or attend PTA and school board meetings, we can remind our leaders and—perhaps more importantly—each other, that we value more than getting ahead. Ideally, public schools bring together a diverse community and promote equality and empathy. They will not do so, however, unless we remember what, deep down, we already know to be true. Public schools shape hearts and minds and sustain our democracy.

Events

School & District Management Webinar EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
What issues are keeping K-12 leaders up at night? Join us for EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
Teaching Students to Use Artificial Intelligence Ethically
Ready to embrace AI in your classroom? Join our master class to learn how to use AI as a tool for learning, not a replacement.
Content provided by Solution Tree
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Teaching Webinar
Empowering Students Using Computational Thinking Skills
Empower your students with computational thinking. Learn how to integrate these skills into your teaching and boost student engagement.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

College & Workforce Readiness These Students Are the Hardest for Schools to Track After Graduation
State education chiefs are working with the Pentagon to make students' enlistment data more accessible for schools.
5 min read
Students in the new Army prep course stand at attention after physical training exercises at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C., on Aug. 27, 2022. The new program prepares recruits for the demands of basic training.
Students in the new Army prep course stand at attention after physical training exercises at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C., on Aug. 27, 2022. State education leaders are working with the Pentagon to make graduates' enlistment data part of their data systems.
Sean Rayford/AP
College & Workforce Readiness As Biden Prepares to Leave Office, He Touts His 'Classroom to Career' Work
At a White House event, the president and first lady highlighted their workforce-development efforts.
3 min read
President Joe Biden speaks at the Classroom to Career Summit in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024.
President Joe Biden speaks at the Classroom to Career Summit in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Nov. 13, 2024.
Ben Curtis/AP
College & Workforce Readiness Can the AP Model Work for CTE? How the College Board Is Embracing Career Prep
The organization known for AP courses and the SAT is getting more involved in helping students explore potential careers.
5 min read
David Coleman, CEO of the College Board, speaks at the organization's annual conference in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 21, 2024.
David Coleman, CEO of the College Board, speaks at the organization's annual conference in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 21, 2024. Long an institution invested in preparing students for college, the College Board increasingly has an eye on illuminating career options.
Ileana Najarro/Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness The Way Schools Offer CTE Classes Is About to Change. Here's How
The revision could lead to significant shifts in the types of jobs schools highlight, and the courses students are able to take.
4 min read
Photo of student working with surveying equipment.
E+