In December 2011, I wrote a blog post asking whether British Columbia’s 1989 definition of the Educated Citizen still held up. The question felt almost rhetorical. Despite two decades of change, the document remained remarkably relevant.
Here we are, fourteen years later, and I find myself returning to that same question with fresh urgency. Not because the definition has failed, but because the world around it has transformed.
This is what BC said it wanted from graduates in 1989, in the Statement of Education Policy Order:
Citizens who are thoughtful, able to learn, and able to think critically. Creative, flexible, and self motivated. Capable of making independent decisions. Cooperative, principled, and respectful of others regardless of differences. Aware of their rights and prepared to exercise their responsibilities.
The document also named a lifelong appreciation of learning, a curiosity about the world around them, and a capacity for creative thought and expression.
Read that list again. There is not a single reference to specific content. No mention of any skill that would become obsolete. It is entirely about human capacities that endure.
The Question AI Forces Us to Answer
In 2011, I wrote that while so much had changed in our world, many of our values and goals had remained unchanged. The challenge, I suggested, was that the strategies employed would differ dramatically.
I did not know how dramatically.
Today, a student can generate a polished essay in seconds. Information is instantly accessible. Artificial intelligence can produce first drafts, solve complex problems, and simulate expertise in ways that would have been unimaginable even a few years ago.
This changes everything about strategy. But it changes nothing about what matters.
If anything, AI has made the 1989 vision more urgent, not less. As machines take care of the “what”, the distinctly human “how” and “why” move to centre stage. Critical thinking. Creativity. Ethical reasoning. The ability to collaborate, to persist, and to make meaning from complexity. The judgment to know when to stop, help someone else, or ask a better question instead of a faster one.
These were always the point. We did not abandon them. We simply allowed other pressures to crowd them out.
The Foreground, Not the Background
In the comments on my 2011 post, Bruce Beairsto, the former Superintendent of the Richmond School District, wrote something that has stayed with me. These attributes, he said, have been in the background, and now we are beginning to appreciate that they should be in the foreground. The subjects are the means, but it is the educated citizen that is the end we seek. We have said that before, but never really acted upon it.
He was right then. He is even more right now.
We built our systems around content and competencies that fit neatly into courses, units, and gradebooks. The human capacities described in the Educated Citizen do not fit neatly. They sprawl across subjects. They develop slowly and unevenly, often in moments that cannot be planned or scheduled. They resist easy measurement.
So we let them live in the in-between spaces. The hallway conversation. The coach’s feedback after a tough loss. The teacher who notices something is off and makes time to ask. This is deeply important work, but it is often invisible work. Dependent on individual educators rather than intentional system design.
From Background to Foreground
AI is not asking us to invent new priorities. It is revealing wisdom we already had and slowly drifted from.
In 2011, Tyler James shared a story in the comments about his daughter stopping mid race to help a fallen skater. His conclusion was simple and profound. We cannot teach educated citizenship. We must model citizenship. (Tyler’s comments and the rich discussion in the comments section of the 2011 post is a wonderful read.)
That insight matters more than ever. In an age of AI generated content, what students need most are adults who embody curiosity, solid judgment, presence, and integrity. Not because these things will be assessed, but because they matter. Because students notice who we are long before they remember what we cover.
The 1989 Educated Citizen is not a relic. It is a North Star worth returning to.
Perhaps the real question is not whether we have it right, but whether we are finally ready, systemically and intentionally, to act on what we have known all along.
The image at the top of this post was generated through AI. Various AI tools were used as feedback helpers (for our students this post would be a Yellow assignment – see link to explanation chart) as I edited and refined my thinking.
