The uninformed backlash AOC saw last night reminded me our system of education is designed to create employees and not functioning, invested members of a community.

1/

Students have to take four years of science but cover the constitution and the mechanics of our government – on all levels - in a semester or two. Students take three or four years of math but the practical applications of math (ie Home Ec) is often a one-semester elective.

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I wonder what would happen to youth political and community engagement if their high school years were spent learning how their government functions from the executive branch down to their school boards.

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I wonder how many young people would vote if they were taught how legislation related to healthcare and education ripples into their daily lives. What if they were taught about property taxes and their influence on school districts?

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I’m sure there are schools here and there that employ these ideas to some degree. What I’m suggesting is making them universal and central to education, focusing on creating whole people and members of a society - not just employees.

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P.S. - this would also mean an emphasis on the arts as well as culture and history classes that honestly and thoroughly cover the swath of our makeup (gender, sexual orientation and identity, race, ethnicity, etc.).

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