Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Supported by

Do We Still Value Public Education In Nevada?

For decades we've seen a slow shift in the way we talk about education. The rhetoric of business and finance has pervaded the national discourse, and terms like return on investment, career track, as well as accountability standards have become commonplace.

Along with shifting the way we talk about education, most efforts to reform public education have focused on increasing student’s academic achievement, without a doubt, a central purpose of schooling. But the reasons given for why it’s important to improve achievement often stresses individual or private economic benefits, rather than public benefits.

In other words, preparing teens for good jobs in the global economy, rather than preparing them for active citizenship in a democratic society.

That emphasis on the individual goals of education is especially obvious in proposals to give families vouchers toward private school tuition, proposals that treat public education as a private consumer good, according to educators.

So is public education about making well-rounded citizens, or about getting kids on the path to a career track in the workforce?

GUESTS

Dr. Kim Metcalf, dean, UNLV College of Education

Maria Ferguson, executive director of the Center on Education Policy at George Washington University

Felicia Nemeck, principal Southwest Career & Technical Academy

Carolyn Edwards,  CCSD school board
Copyright 2015 KNPR-FM. To see more, visit http://www.knpr.org/.

Stay Connected