ENGL203 Critical Response Sample

Resisting Authoritarianism through Education

Following the rather shocking election of Donald Trump as the US president, Richard
Kahlenberg and Clifford Janey ride the wave of controversies that erupted around his election. Their
article “Is Trump victory the Jump-start of civics education needed?” published in the Atlantic on
November 10, 2016, is a powerful critique of the American educational system. The writers argue that
the election of a sexist and a racist demagogue like Trump should raise many red flags about the
shortcomings of the American educational system. Rather than analyzing the election of Trump as a
purely political event, Kahlenberg and Janey shift the attention to the educational system, claiming that
American schools have failed to inculcate in students democratic values or create a democratic
environment where they can truly interact regardless of their ethnicity, race, or social class. Thus, the lack
of civic literacy has led American citizens to vote for a candidate hostile to the American democratic
values and multiculturalism. I find that the authors explore a very interesting factor behind citizens’
failure to make proper political decisions. Their suggestion that the onus falls on the failure of proper
civic education is both very reasonable and relevant to the Lebanese context.

In my opinion, the writers have put their finger on an extremely important factor behind Trump’s
election. While many pundits extensively wrote about the political and economic factors that led to his
election , Kohlenberg and Janey look at the situation from a different perspective and locate the “malaise”
of the American society in the American educational system. Their merit is that they highlighted the
discrepancy between American ideals and facts on the ground. While the American official commitment
to democracy, multiculturalism and egalitarianism is not a secret, the fact that Americans voted for a
president who flagrantly dismisses all the American values has led many to question not only American
education, but the role of education in general in today’s world: is the role of schools and universities to
educate tolerant, open-minded critical thinkers who vote for competent democratic leaders, or is it simply
to prepare students to find a job and make money? The writers’ examination of the American educational
system reveals that American schools are still segregated along race and social class lines which greatly
impedes social cohesion. But if this is the case of American education, what can we say about a country
like Lebanon?

I find that the article has some relevance to the Lebanese context and resonates with the concerns
of many Lebanese parents and educators. The Lebanese educational system is also divided along sectarian
and social class lines. This creates serious problems for social cohesion in a country that was torn by a 15
year civil war. Up to the present time, the Lebanese are still a divided nation, and the educational system
has failed so far to promote the idea of citizenship. Thus, the Lebanese still feel that they belong to their
sects rather than the Lebanese nation. I personally remember that in my Civics class, we had to memorize
some boring material that had little relevance to our daily life. In a country where religious intolerance,
prejudice and stereotyping are still a problem, education must play a role in curing these social ills. On
the political level, and as in many other countries in the world, the Lebanese still vote for the same
political class; the country still suffers from corruption and we keep asking ourselves: why do the
Lebanese always vote for the wrong people? The answer, as Kahlenberg and Janey suggest, may lie in the
heart of the education system. Their claim seems to be justified not only in the United States, but in many
other contexts.