CENTRALITY OF GOOD CITIZENSHIP
(September 6, 2010)
Welcome to this initial entry of a blog dedicated to
civics curricular issues. I hope you find it informative, thought
provoking, and that you will see it as a call to get involved in an
essential element of a democratic society.
CIVICS
CURRICULUM, PROFESSIONAL CONCERN
(September
10, 2010)
In this second posting, I would like to provide some
context for the content of subsequent postings. They will be a
series of short arguments that will present and defend a newer view
of civics curriculum. In so doing, the blog will bring to the general
audience an overall argument about a professional concern. Civics
education is an area of concern among professional curriculum
developers, school district administrators, school administrators,
and social studies teachers.
THE MEANING OF CURRICULUM AND
CONSTRUCT
(September 13, 2010)
The
previous posting informed you that the aim of this blog is to engage
you in a professional area of concern, civics education and its
curriculum. What is meant by the term curriculum? Simplifying the
term, a curriculum is a strategic plan that informs school personnel
as to the content, processes, priorities, and values of what they are
to teach.1
There are a variety of issues and concerns a curriculum addresses.
My efforts here will be concerned with only one of these issues; i.
e., its scope or its preferred content. Without getting into it
right now, the field is engaged in a lively debate as to what should
constitute the scope of civics education. There are two conflicting
constructs: natural rights construct and critical theory construct.
In
the future, I will want to explain these views, but for now I am
concerned with the notion that these views represent and reflect two
distinct mental representations - two constructs - of what civics and
civics education are and what they should promote among the
citizenry.
1Within
the field of curricular studies the definition of curriculum is the
source of quite a bit of debate. The definition offered here is
judged by me to provide the most practical approach for the purposes
of the blog.
FIGHTING A NATURAL FORCE?
(September 17, 2010)
A certain level of anxiety has
been expressed in the media of late. It has to do with tolerating
the non Judeo-Christian tradition of Islam. Let me admit to a bias.
I believe that we, as humans, are wired to distrust the other, the
foreign, the “not us.” This might have been useful in our
ancient past when resources were scarce and boundaries between people
were necessary for survival. I use the word “believe” advisedly.
Plato made the distinction between ignorance, belief, and knowledge.
This arrangement indicates a continuum. At one end of the continuum
is what we know to be true without doubt. At he other end is what we
simply do not know at all – ignorance. Somewhere between these
extremes is what we believe with some level of reservation – our
beliefs. I hold as true that I am typing these words right now. I
am ignorant as to what I will be doing at this time tomorrow. I
believe that there will be a tomorrow for me. Belief is somewhere
between knowledge and ignorance. I believe that we have a bias
toward not trusting strangers or people not like ourselves.
SOCIAL STUDIES EQUALS CIVICS
(September 20, 2010)
Social studies equals civics.
That is, social studies’ main goal is civics and the knowledge it
attempts to impart is primarily dedicated toward those insights,
generalizations, concepts, principles, and theories useful in
promoting good and effective citizenship. It is not dedicated so
much to producing amateur historians, economists, political
scientists or the like, or to providing the initial steps in becoming
professionals in those fields. The knowledge of those fields
provides the general content used to promote effective citizenship,
but that knowledge and its related instruction is not the ultimate
end of social studies.
CIVICS
EDUCATION: JOB ONE
(September
24, 2010)
Let me drive a point home: if
good citizenship were not a dominant goal of public education, one
would be hard-pressed to justify public schools. I am arguing that
civics is the core of not only social studies, but of all public
education. Short of this aim, people, in paying their school taxes,
would be subsidizing private interests. A person being educated or
trained to secure employment, for example, would be using public
expenditures to advance his or her economic interests. Taxes are
collected in a coercive manner, you either lose some property or go
to prison if you don't pay them. Therefore, their use should be
limited to public welfare, not private welfare.
A
CRUCIAL ELEMENT OF DEMOCRACY
(September
27, 2010)
As you follow this blog, keep your
eyes and ears open as you read newspapers or hear the news on TV or
radio. Be conscious of stories indicating how often an uninformed or
ill-behaved citizenry pops up in the course of reporting the issues
of the day. From obesity among children to poor voter turnout to
short sighted activities by some group or other (labor, business,
teenagers, the elderly, not to mention those who engage in crime),
the news often presents these conditions with a tacit message. That
is, if citizens only knew or believed or felt as they should, the
issue would not be so challenging. I believe that if the schools
engaged in more effective social studies instruction with a civics
focus, this factor would be addressed and the reported problems not
so burdensome. A good social studies curriculum, by definition,
would promote better citizenship. Our mutual interests, therefore,
are at stake and negatively affected when our schools fall short of
providing effective social studies instruction.
A
CONTEXT FOR CRITICISM
(October
1, 2010)
I wrote earlier in this blog that
I would present a series of criticisms directed at the level of
effectiveness civics curriculum and instruction achieves in our
public schools. I also indicated that there is in these criticisms a
certain lack of accusation. At least, I am not targeting any single
group or individual. Let me explain.
INEFFECTIVENESS
OF CIVICS INSTRUCTION?
(October
4, 2010)
As I indicated in a previous
posting of this blog, for parents and most social studies teachers,
social studies and civics seem pretty straightforward. Teach
students our basic history, our basic laws, our basic constitutional
ideals, and be done with it. The academic professionals of the
field, however, do not take their responsibility so lightly. Just to
give you an inkling of how weighty their interests become, many of
them think seriously about how their work shapes our assumptions of
the worth of our fellow citizens, how we formulate economic beliefs,
or how we view minorities. To the extent that curricular decisions
come to fruition and are effective, the resulting views among
students and, as they grow older, voting citizens, may very well
affect which governmental or corporate policies will be sustained or
eliminated and which options will be brought forth or which ones will
not even be considered.
TOWARD
CLARIFYING THE CIVIC PROBLEM
(October
8, 2010)
In my last posting, I presented
evidence as to whether or not our efforts in civics education have
been sufficiently successful. One might consider my argument a bit
equivocal. So let me go on the record about what I think is obvious:
we have not been sufficiently successful in our efforts to teach the
youth of this nation how to become democratic citizens. Actually,
the overall quality of our citizens is better than we deserve given
our efforts in the classroom.
If you care to see one of the above postings, request a copy by sending an email to gravitascivics@gmail.com . One requested posting per email.
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