Promoting citizenship is 'real mission' of schools

“Our children need us to give them not just the knowledge and skills to be active participants in a democracy, they must obtain sufficient experience so they can teach us how to build a better America,” Bryant told the audience at a Focus on Education panel on “The Real Mission of Schooling:.Creating Citizens for a Democracy.”

Bryant shared the story of one student who has taken civic involvement to a unique level. Pallas Snider, a senior in a Maryland high school, not only sits on her district’s school board but also has full voting powers on everything, including the superintendent’s evaluation and contract review.

“She’s often been the deciding vote,” says Bryant. She single-handedly wrote a board policy that eliminated the title of valedictorian and led an effort to change the starting time of high school from 7:17 a.m. to 8 a.m. because of the research on the need for teens to get more sleep.

Co-panelist Paul Houston, the executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, called public education “real homeland security” for the nation.

Houston says public education protects “the twin towers” of American democracy. “One is the right of every individual to pursue their dreams. The other is the community’s responsibility to one another,” Houston says.

“In a democracy, it’s not just about the individual; it’s also about the community that we share,” he says. “Public education has been the centerpiece of bringing people together.”

Plano, Texas, Superintendent Douglas Otto says when he grew up, it was easier to learn about patriotism. “We knew who the enemy was in the aftermath of World War II.”

“It’s not the same anymore,” Otto says. “Our students are global. They speak more than 100 different languages. So it’s tough for teachers to engage them in dialogue because they have to be more careful.”

Yet, the recent student protests over the restrictive immigration bill before Congress have become a learning tool in many classrooms across the nation. “We saw students walk out of our schools and try to express themselves,” Otto says. “It became a wonderful civics lesson.”

In the Pleasanton (Calif.) Unified School District, the school board’s strategic plan promotes civic integrity, says board member Juanita Haugen. “Of course, the top goal of our plan is student achievement, but it also includes personal development, civic responsibility, and service learning.”