This article is an edited version of an article that appeared in the April 6 issue of the Chico News and Review. To answer the first question, however, a second question is equally relevant.
Politicians tend to agree.
The answer is nothing and everything. What has recently been missing, as a fundamental purpose of public education, is maintaining and advancing our democratic community. Everything is wrong if we lose sight of the critical equation between public schooling, democracy, and the quality of our lives. Not placing democracy at the center of the equation puts all else at risk. In a very real sense, the vitality of democracy is measured by the attention that schools pay to civic literacy.