For this special edition, I'm handing the floor to Dr. David George, author of Reviving America: A Civil Discussion Framework. Dr. George's book examines eight national institutions, from the judiciary to the free press to public education and asks how well each one measures up against what the Founders intended. I asked him to share his thoughts on the education chapter for this audience because the argument he makes deserves a hearing from the people living it every day.
Two concepts from the book may require a quick orientation before you dive in. The first is systems thinking, which treats public education not as one thing but as a set of interconnected parts, funding, policy, family support, and more, that shape each other constantly. The second is the Human Energy Assessment Technique, or HEAT, which Dr. George uses to gauge whether an institution is generating the kind of civic trust and participation a democracy depends on, or eroding it. Treat HEAT as a diagnostic lens, not a verdict. It's a way of asking hard questions, not a final grade.
OVERVIEW
In the recently published book Reviving America: A Civil Discussion Framework, Education was one of eight [8] national institutions considered to be key operational markers in assessing how well today’s America is doing in comparison to the 250-year-old Founders’ vision. The following article builds on the discussion of Education in Reviving America and concludes with a strategic, long term suggestion that may very well be the key to the survival of the republic over the next 250 years.
SYSTEMS THINKING
From a systems thinking perspective, one of the 5 methodology approaches used in Reviving America, Education is a complex, adaptive, human system. Education is viewed as the structured set of institutions, policies, and processes designed to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes by our citizens. As such, its component parts are very interactive, reciprocally influencing each other through a variety of organizational and cultural processes like feedback loops, funding, content policies, and family/community support. To help ease the complexity of the public Education system, over 15 specific system components, from the federal government to individual students, have been grouped into 6 dynamic subsystems or loops. Different models will come from varying perspectives but this model is provided for full disclosure’s sake. A graphic of the major, interactive subsystems [loops] of the public Education system is presented below.
`America’s Public Education System—Complex, Interactive Subsystems
The Role of Education in Reviving America [cont.]
FOUNDERS VISION OF EDUCATION
While Americas’ Founders had varied views on Education, their general vision of Education was relatively clear. On one level it was to bring children of varying classes together to create a literate republican citizenry. On the other hand, it was to create a common American identity and to provide basic democratic literacy Unfortunately, this education opportunity was available mainly for white males, while women, people of color and indigenous populations were generally excluded. [This was an interesting democratic hypocrisy that would take years to amend.] The democratic literacy part was crucial for the young nation because it was helping our society’s citizenry understand and appreciate the foundations/processes of our country and how difficult it is to maintain a high level of democratic functioning. Besides sustaining democratic institutions, The Founders saw Education as a way of promoting civic virtue, preventing tyranny, maintaining social order, promoting economic prosperity, and finally, preparing individuals for public and private life. In essence, our Founders saw Education as a combination of personal benefit and a public good.
HUMAN ENERGY
Before providing the conclusion and recommendation for Education, another methodology approach used in Reviving America must be presented. It is human energy, a companion piece to systems thinking. Human energy derives from the concept that all activities create some level of human energy impact, from positive to negative. Human energy is not simply physical effort. It captures its energy from a wide variety of areas like intellectual curiosity, emotional resilience, civic responsibility, moral purpose, entrepreneurial initiative, and the confidence that individual effort can make a difference. Positive human energy typically generates qualities like improving social trust, political cooperation, democratic resilience, and improved human potential. Negative human energy, on the other hand, tends to reverse those positive responses. Social/institutional trust erodes. Politics becomes polarized. Civic participation declines. Democratic resilience diminishes. National human potential is suppressed. When positive human energy qualities characterize a society, that society tends to flourish. When societies are more characterized by negative human energy, those societies, even wealthy societies, become conflicted, challenged.
In America Reviving, the general concept of human energy is used as the basic measurement analytical technique [Human Energy Assessment Technique-HEAT] in trying to determine the extent to which there are differences between the Founder’s vision for the Country and what America has become. A scale of 100 to 0% is divided into three general human energy zones: POSITIVE or SAFETY, NEUTRAL or CAUTION or, NEGATIVE or DANGER. [See below.]
Your HEAT scale comments for Education:
The Role of Education in Reviving America [cont.]
HUMAN ENERGY [cont.]
HEAT Conclusion: EDUCATION—NEGATIVE/DANGER Does an Education system that fails to adequately prepare a knowledge base for its citizens for living in a democracy sustain any democratic society? In terms of preserving the democratic principles of America, few components are as important as the citizens’ ability to understand and act on this responsibility. America’s public Education is a study in contrasts. There are many positive things about American public Education, creating a great deal of positive human energy. Universal accessibility, social mobility, and rigorous teacher education standards are among the many strong points. However, because a substantial portion of funding comes from the communities in which the schools are
located, low-income communities are often over-reliant on state and federal funding, usually making the schools less resource-competitive than public schools in higher income areas. The main deficit, however, would appear to be that today’s curriculum in many public schools falls far short of providing its students with a level of civic literacy that even the Founders would probably consider minimal to the survival of the republic. Many would consider this deficit to be an existential threat, a negative human energy deficiency in preparing America’s citizenry to assume their responsibility in helping to promote and safeguard basic democratic principles. This is a primary reason why Education is placed in the Danger HEAT zone in Reviving America.
RECOMMENDATION
Reviving America is proposing that a National Democracy Curriculum
Various sources such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, American Bar Association, and the National Assessment of Educational Progress confirm that there is a severe lack of basic civic literacy among adult citizens, registered voters, and students. This lack of civic literacy creates an increasing possibility that America’s reliance on democracy principles will be eroded, creating an ever-stronger profile of a negative human energy society, with all the attendant consequences. An appropriately developed and implemented National Democracy Curriculum would arrest and reverse this negative projection by giving all citizens, eventually, a clearer sense of the positive virtues of a democratic society, and how to sustain it. It would bind citizens together with a shared, common vision that they currently do not seem to possess.
A National Democracy Curriculum may sound autocratic, especially since Reviving America is basically about reviving the concepts of democracy, but it may be only of the few ways that America can prepare itself for a sustained, democratic future, with informed, active, citizen participation.
Dr. George brings a lifetime in education, public leadership, and service to his understanding of America. He holds a B.A. in Economics, an M.P.A., and a Doctorate in Education, and served four years in the U.S. Air Force during Vietnam. His career includes serving as president of two community colleges and vice president of a third. Having lived across the Northeast, South, Midwest, and West, he writes with long-range, personal investment in the country's future.
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