What is the purpose of school? What is the definition of an education? Should the goal of school be to prepare students for a specific trade/career/job? Should it do more than that? Less? I was prompted to ask these questions after catching the tail end of an interview on The Chris Matthews Show, where one of the guests, Joe Klein, a writer for TIME Magazine, described a career and technical education (CTE) program in Arizona. I tracked down the video and have transcribed the exchange here:

Joe Klein: “Chris vocational education has been out of fashion in this country for 30, 40 years. But I was just in Arizona, where they’ve turned things on their head, and the most ambitious kids are trying to get into these classes because they lead directly to jobs and work certificates…”

Chris Matthews: “Give me examples of what they’re teaching”

Joe Klein: “Medical aids, nurses aids, auto shop has 40 cars provided by auto dealers… these kids are more likely to pass diagnostic tests, graduate from high school, get jobs and more likely to go towards higher education.”

Chris Matthews: “And they see the connection between school and money?”

Joe Klein: “Yes.”

As it turned out, Joe Klein, was referencing an article he wrote about a set of CTE programs in Arizona. The article illustrates the value in having students engaged in hands-on learning related to specific industries. Interviews with district and state education leaders also touch on historical tensions between the traditional high school trajectory of taking a course of academic subjects in preparation for college versus CTE programs that prepare students for specific jobs. While there isn’t conclusive data, most people interviewed in the article speak to the profound impacts, including better tests scores and likelihood of students pursuing higher education, as a result of enrollment in CTE programs. Klein ends, touching on how students learn the “soft skills necessary to be good employees” but he stops short of making the more significant connection between hands on experiences and learning. Klein doesn’t explicitly address the fact that students who get opportunities to take part in animal surgeries or fix car engines are engaged in thinking and learning activities that are essential for all students.The takeaways from Joe Klein’s article and Chris Matthews’ remark about school and money put front and center something that I haven’t paid enough attention to– that the education debate in the US is divisive in many ways because we don’t all agree about the purpose or goals of school. The current rhetoric related to education policy and reform includes phrases like:

• The purpose of school is to:

• "to get kids ready for college and careers”
• "to provide a solid education"
• "to help students to develop the skills they need to succeed in the real world"

There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these assertions. But even still, college and career readiness seems murky. Which career? What college? Does a job fit into the career track? And moreover, where and how does learning occur? How can school meaningfully prepare all students for the variety of post-K12 choices they make (assuming they get all the way there)?I'm not yet ready to share a definition, but here are some words I'd like to see as part of the conversation related to the purpose of school:

• thinking
• questioning
• collaborating
• creating
• cooperating
• inquiring
• building
• challenging