Tech has transformed Missouri. Our teachers’ work remains the same | Opinion

This month, America celebrates its 250th birthday.

Anniversaries invite reflection. They ask us to look backward at what we’ve built and forward at what comes next.

As a former civics teacher, they make me think about a question we don’t ask often enough: What is the purpose of public education?

We often debate whether schools should prepare students for careers or citizenship. The reality is that those goals are far less separate than we acknowledge.

As Missouri communities compete for new industries and economic growth, employers emphasize communication, collaboration, critical thinking, adaptability and problem-solving. We often describe these as workforce skills.

They are also civic skills, and they’re in high demand.

These are the skills that help people succeed in workplaces, contribute to strong communities and participate in a healthy democracy. Missouri’s future depends not only on what students know, but on whether they can work with others, solve problems and take responsibility for their communities.

For much of America’s history, public education has carried a responsibility larger than workforce preparation, readying each generation to participate in civic, economic and community life. That responsibility remains as important today as it was 250 years ago.

In my civics classroom, the most important lessons happened when students worked through disagreements, collaborated on projects, wrestled with competing ideas or took responsibility for a shared outcome. Democracy isn’t just something students study. It’s something they practice.

Today, I lead programs at Teach For America Missouri that prepare and support educators across the state. That work gives me a firsthand view of new teacher preparation and what students will need in coming decades.

Last month, I joined first-year teachers preparing for their first classrooms in Kansas City and St. Louis. They taught summer school, refined lessons with coaches and reflected on how to help students navigate a world where information is everywhere, but understanding is not.

For generations, teachers were the primary source of information in a classroom. Today, information is everywhere. As access expands, the role of the teacher increasingly shifts from delivering information to helping students evaluate, interpret and apply information, providing context and meaning.

Great teaching is about helping students evaluate information, recognize credible evidence, make sense of competing ideas and apply what they learn to real problems. Those are deeply human skills that will matter most in the workplaces, communities and civic institutions of the future.

These new teachers weren’t wrestling with having all the answers. They were wrestling with helping students think.

How do I build trust? How do I create a classroom where everyone feels they belong? How do I help students think critically, solve problems and engage with ideas that matter?

The tools available to teachers have changed dramatically. The fundamental work has not.

Whether they are serving in Kansas City, St. Louis or the communities in between, the educators I meet are doing remarkably similar work. Every day, they help students navigate differences, build relationships, evaluate ideas and take responsibility for the communities they are already a part of.

As America turns 250, we should remember that public education was never just about preparing students for their first job. It was about preparing them to strengthen their communities.

The tools will change. The economy will change. The country will change.

What should not change is our commitment to ensuring that every young person is prepared not only for a career, but for citizenship, community and the responsibility of helping shape America’s next 250 years.

In a world where technology provides information instantly, teachers remain the people who help students turn information into understanding and understanding into action.

Nacole Boan is senior managing director of statewide programs and Kansas City partnerships for Teach For America Missouri. She previously served as a government and civics teacher and a high school principal.