OpenGov - Open Government Brainstorm

As it was observed by lil ole me, homeless and multi- disabled in 2007,we have too many beavis and butthead voters who rely on one liners to make political choices.

ONE CLASS on critical thinking/logic should be required for HS graduation;

ONE CLASS on voting and current politics.USA and foreign. (Each student must debate both sides of a current issue);

ONE CLASS on basic life skills, all should be mandatory.

We must prepare our youth in an ever more complex and competitive world.

Let us not be naive and expect that everyone will be educated to the same, or "sufficient" level. There will be inevitably differences in the level of education. How do you propose to deal with that? Are you proposing an "acceptable level" of educations?

Greeks dealt with this by letting only "free men", i.e., people of property (no slaves or women) to participate in "open government" (as represented by Agora). Obviously we cannot do that, so my question remains - who is educated "well enough". I do believe that there should be a technocratic element in our open government with a clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

Love your post. Jefferson said a nation's best defense is an educated citizenry, and Madison said that a populace that means to govern itself must be informed.

See Open Source Agency for an implementing idea that embraces your own.

Earth Intelligence Network is the 501c3 Public Charity created to pursue public intelligence in the public interest.

Fund education for a transparent, participatory, collaborative, and just government.

The beneficiaries should be secondary school students, college and university students, and everyday citizens who are not currently enrolled in school.

Funding should support curricular and co-curricular development and reform. We need to assess existing programs in history, social studies, and civics at the secondary school level to determine what students are learning, and change what doesn't work. We need to hold schools accountable for meeting these expectations.

Colleges and universites can be critical partners in this work. All students (not just those who study political science) should graduate knowing democracy's core principles and practices: Constitutional ideals, US history and ongoing struggles for civil rights, political processes, skills for public participation and problem solving, an interdisciplinary examination of critical public issues and current events, intercultural communication, and so forth.

Colleges and universities can also play a critical role in educating the broader public. They can convene public forums on critical issues, including things that tend to divide us as a nation: race, gender, class, religion, national origin, and political ideology. They can offer continuing education courses in government and social change. They can offer certificate programs in public dialogue, community organizing, conflict resolution, and facilitative leadership. They can provide continuing education to government employees on transparency, citizen participation, and interagency collaboration.

Our schools, colleges, and universities should be supported in their efforts to build an "informed" citizenry.

Make education more transparent to achieve the goal of an educated populace by finding out what is really happening in schools. Do not base decision making on assumptions or merely talks with administrators.We assume kids read in school. In actuality,middle school students only read 20 minutes a day in school by some accounts.Those with good home situations read even more at home. Many disadvantaged students can't read at home due to circumstances beyond their control, and then they are not given enough time to read in school to improve their skills. Many teachers don't understand the power of reading to build better readers, vocabulary, or even writing skills.

English is a phonetic code. We are a land of immigrants. It is surprising that many middle and high school teachers do not know how to teach phonetics and these students don't get what they need to access our language. (As a teacher I use Reading Reflex as a simple, effective method.)

We know longer teach keyboarding at our middle school.The higher ups assume kids now know how to type. They all don't, especially the disadvantaged and special ed. Consider making a mandatory keyboarding skills test for a certain grade -- sixth grade??

We want our students to protect our environment. Help them to love the land so they will protect the land. Eliminate field trips to the movies, etc.

Start language learning in elementary school. Students can have a native accent if they learn before puberty. They then have the confidence to excel in our goal of having an educated populace.

It should be opt-out, and should start in third grade, but otherwise that's potentially a good idea.

When is the last time you took a philosophy class?

Barf.

I'll go with critical thinking though.

problem is what philosophy and what thinking?? When you educate someone in philosophy and how to think, you also teach them What to think and thus how to vote--this is why education gets so politicized. Probably best to learn the 3R's and have an idea of how government processes work without being indoctrinated in any philosophy by a government run school.