When you think of a self-actualized person, what comes to mind? What role does education play in this development?

If ever a topic warranted sober deliberation in civil discourse, it is our country’s public education system. In my opinion, it is a black mark on our society that education has become overly politicized and yanked between extreme viewpoints like a frayed rope in a tug-of-war contest.

The pendulum continues to swing back and forth, and unified solutions to address education’s major challenges remain at bay.

Strengthening economic prosperity and building social trust can be pursued simultaneously in education with a “yes, and” mindset instead of “either/or.”

In David Brooks’ recent column, “The Nordic model: thinking,” the highly regarded columnist described the approach utilized with great success by the countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

As Brooks explains, the basis for today’s Nordic countries enjoying heralded economic prosperity, soaring personal happiness quotient and enviable shared social responsibility was laid 200 years ago.

Their approach calls for education that results in students’ complete moral, emotional, intellectual and civic transformation, equipping them to see the world in more complex ways while developing strong relationships between personal freedoms and social responsibilities.

The Nordic countries demonstrate that providing the best education for all is both an economic stimulus and a societal equalizer. It lifts citizens out of a class system that would limit individual potential and hamper the capacity to contribute to national prosperity.

Before you stop reading further to object to this proposition under the false notion of socialism, this is exactly where the intersection of “yes, and” comes into play.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell recently attributed the United States’ low labor force participation rates to our declining educational attainment rates in comparison to peer counties, particularly among lower- and middle-income people.

So, if we are to improve labor force participation rates, increase educational attainment rates and produce more responsible, contributing members of society, we must expand our approach to more than just what someone can do. It also must be applied to who they can be.

Education’s purpose is to create more self-actualized persons, not just to improve the ability to sort students for college or career, school or trades. That’s why, at the Education Foundation of Sarasota County, we are in pursuit of college, career and life readiness for all students.

Again, referencing Brooks, Americans often think of schooling as the transmission of specialized skill sets. We see that in stories criticizing schools for not “producing” enough skilled workers to repair our cars, fix our plumbing, and build our houses.

If we use a non-critical approach, we can agree that trades workers are needed; that both technical school and traditional college are valid pathways; and expanding postsecondary pathways will benefit everyone.

It’s not beneficial to limit education’s purpose to skill mastery or to define a worker’s worth in terms of a skill. Instead, think of schooling as a piece of the whole that is education.

In its purest form, education is not a means to an end; it is a value of lifelong learning. Education produces intellectually robust, curious citizens capable of original thinking, creating and designing solutions to the environmental, political and economic challenges that our world is facing.

Yes, we need plumbers, and yes, we need philosophers. And there’s no reason a skilled carpenter can’t also be a teacher.

It comes down to what we, as a community, want. Do we want to perpetuate a class system with “either/or” classifications? If we choose the “yes, and” approach, how will we amplify education’s highest potential in our community?

It’s our prerogative to decide the manner in which we come together to prepare every student for success.

We have the power. Do we have the will? Could this be Sarasota County’s raison d'être?

Jennifer Vigne is president of the Education Foundation of Sarasota County.