Education Next – Robert Pondiscio
“A year ago I made an informal study of the mission statements of the one hundred largest school systems in the United States. I was curious to see whether the public purpose of public education—preparing children for citizenship and self-government—is top of mind when those who run those systems ask themselves, “What exactly is our purpose here?” Unsurprisingly, it’s not. About 60 percent of those big districts, collectively responsible for more than eleven million children, made no mention whatsoever of civics or citizenship. But it got a lot worse: The words “America” and “American” appeared zero times in one hundred school mission statements. Neither did “patriotic” or “patriotism.” However, “global” appears in the statements of twenty-eight districts—usually in phrases like “global society,” “global economy” or “global citizens.” What are we to make of that?.”(more)