Reich: Educating for the common good

He reminds us, and I remember, when civics was taught to us in public schools. Such training gave us a sense of our society, our place in it and responsibility to it. While vocational training it also necessary, it replaced civics altogether with a total focus on individual knowledge and skill acquisition. Reich thinks we need to bring back civics if we are ever to have a functioning democracy, since the latter depends upon it.

"One of the most important initiatives would be to restart civic education in our schools.[...] But education is not just a personal investment. It’s a public good. It builds the capacity of the nation to govern itself.[...] If the common good is ever to be restored in America, education must ground people in responsible citizenship. This requires that schools focus not just on building personal skills but also on inculcating civic obligations."