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The education system faces key strategic questions. STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) may answer the question of “how” to do things, but does it answer the question of “what” to do?
Do we need to emphasize skills over knowledge? Can someone teach their preferred ideological orthodoxy at the same time that they train critical thinking? How can a young person with limited experience do critical thinking without social studies (i.e., history, civics, economics)?
Does making the education system responsible for changing society writ large interfere with its core mission to teach reading, writing and math? Should a school or school board act as if they were parents, or do parents have a role to play in educating children? Is there any conflict between building workers for business and building good citizens for democracy?
Lloyd Lim
Makiki
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