Public Issues Forum – What is the 21st Century Mission for Our Public Schools?

Before it disappears from the C-Net rotation - the last showing is scheduled for this Sunday, April 20, at 8:00 a.m. on channel 98 - I wanted to mention the most recent Public Issues Forum, which was held in Schlow Library on the evening of April 10th.

Centered on the question - What is the 21st Century Mission for Our Public Schools? - this forum provided the community with a rare opportunity for a public conversation - that is, one involving community members of varying perspectives - on a complex topic.

There are two aspects of a public issues forum that make it fairly unique, and which can be explained by what it is not. First, it is not a panel of experts, with the public observing from the audience. In fact, for the purpose of the forum, there are no experts; the central purpose of a forum is for the participants to listen to one another, in order to come to a better understanding of why someone might see the issue in a different way.

Neither is a public forum a debate, where one "side" wins. Rather, it is a deliberation, in which the participants weight the trade-offs imbedded in the various approaches to the issue and identify what is important to them - and why - and then look for areas of common ground. There are no "sides."

The portion that I heard contained some fascinating insights from high school and college students, parents and business people, as well as educators. It was certainly clear to me that we need to find a way to continue this conversation. I'm sure I'll have more to say about this later, but in the meantime, I encourage you to watch it for yourself.