History: Allen argues the vocational paradigm can be traced to the Cold War after the Soviet launch of the first satellite, Sputnik, made the US feel behind in its scientific progress in 1957. The Reagan administration report, A Nation at Risk (1983), brought educational reform, "Tellingly, the commission that produced the report held hearings on "Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education" and “Education for a Productive Role in a Productive Society," but none concerning the humanities, social sciences, or civic education" (Allen, 10).
In the 2006 Campaign for Fiscal Equality (CFE) v. state lawsuit, the state argued that all students needed to be prepared to carry out their civic duties and start being employed at eighth-grade completion. Unsurprisingly, CFE and the court disagreed, saying this level of education will not leave students with capable abilities or respectable enough for the competitive job market (Allen, 8-9).
Analysis: Allen challenges that the state failed to deliver because of the Great Recession, but this cannot be excused because citizenship and civics are almost absent from these discussions and are not a priority. Allen talks about how we should redesign the system to meet civic educational needs, for which she offers a solution: participatory readiness, something vocational education alone cannot prepare students for.
Cold War Analysis: Allen explains that fear of a foreign power overtaking the US, specifically in a scientific context with satellites, prompted the advance of science and math studies and later vocational education being reformed into the current policy and mindset (Allen, 10).
Reagan Analysis: Allen prompted that more research was done because of the Reagan administration's constant hearings for reforming education based on the Cold War. Later on, Allen suggests that in the 1990s, economists were making theories about inequality and education by saying students who are taught more technological skills will catch up to privileged students (Allen, 10).