In a recent article, Ed Week writer Debra Viadero reported on the research of Joseph Kahne and Ellen Middaugh, who have "documented a steady rise this decade in the percentages of young people who vote in primaries and general elections." The percentage of 18- to 29-year-olds who voted in national elections, for example, rose from 37 percent in 1996 to 52 percent in 2008…. Statistics also show that a majority of young people report …. volunteering while in high school…at much higher rates than their parents ever did.

We feel compelled to report to the American people that the business and financial foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people. What was unimaginable a generation ago has begun to occur— companies that extolled themselves as models of excellent practices have deceived the American people with sloppy, undisciplined, and greedy practices that are driving  Americans out of their homes, threatening their retirements, and dashing their hopes of a financially  secure future. Indeed, if an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre corporate financial performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.

with John Goodland, Deborah Meier, Larry Myatt, Pedro Noguera, and George Wood

The faltering participation gap and the stagnating intellectual achievement gap in America are major issues related to each other. To address them, requires a renewed focus on the purposes of a democracy and the practices of education.