Transcript Public Education and the Cultivation of Citizen-Students

Public Education and the Cultivation of
Citizen-Students
Dominique E. Johnson, PhD
Ramapo College of New Jersey
June 9, 2012
Overview of Presentation
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Introduction
Relevant Literature
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Recent Findings
Recommendations
Questions and Discussion
Introduction
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Is public education developing citizen-students
into the 21st century?
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Public education as cornerstone to American
democracy
Education as an essential element of American
citizenship --- now more than ever?
Tocqueville: purpose of formal education to
cultivate “habits of the heart”
Dewey: [higher] education should be civically
involved in order to improve community
Relevant Literature
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Theoretical perspectives
Social Science perspectives
Recent findings
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Department of Education report
ETS report
AACU’s Crucible Moment report
Theoretical Perspectives
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Freire (2000), Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics,
Democracy, and Civic Courage
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Imperative of democratic pedagogy
Banks (2008): Questioning liberal-assimilationist
citizenship education
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American citizenship education as global
Theoretical Perspectives
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Giroux (2011), Education and the Crisis of Public
Values
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Shift away from democratic public values in American society
Social disinvestment in youth
Ideal of public education as a democratic public sphere
Public and higher education as a public good crucial to
sustaining a critical citizenry and a democratic society
Citizens to align education with a defense of public values
Construction of young people as social agents responsible to the
ideals of a democratic society as individuals
Social Science Perspectives
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Schildkraut (2007): American identity into the
21st Century
McPherson, Smith-Lovin, and Brashears
(2006): Social isolation in America
2010 NAEP Civics data:
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27% (4th grade), 22% (8th grade), and 24% (12th
grade) performed at proficiency
Gap between racial and ethnic groups
Recent decline in overall civic knowledge of high
school seniors between 2006 and 2010 (NCES 2011)
Recent Findings
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Department of Education report (2012)
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Advancing Civic Learning and Engagement in
Democracy: A Road Map and Call to Action
“Preparing all students…for informed, engaged
participation in civic and democratic life is not only
essential, but also consistent with the aims of
increasing student achievement and closing
achievement gaps. It is consistent with preparing
students for 21st-century careers.”
Recent Findings
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ETS report (2012)
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Fault Lines in Our Democracy: Civic Knowledge,
Voting Behavior, and Civic Engagement in the United
States
“As the 21st century unfolds, the United States faces
challenges of historic proportions…solutions will have
to come from an educated and skilled citizenry that
understand how our democratic system works,
participate in our democracy by voting, and have
positive attitudes and believe that our democratic
system is meaningful and important.”
Recent Findings
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“The dismal state of civics knowledge among our
youth, voting behavior, and attitudes about
government represent fault lines in the bedrock of
our democracy.”
Recent Findings
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AACU’s Crucible Moment report (2011)
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A Crucible Moment: College Learning and
Democracy’s Future
“Reclaim and reinvest in the fundamental civic
and democratic mission of schools…reframe civic
aims and civic literacy as educational priorities…
develop contemporary framework for civic
learning (U.S. and global interdependence and
engaging diverse perspectives and people)…
capitalize on the interdependent responsibilities of
K‐12 and higher education.”
Recommendations
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Public schools are an anchor for the
complexity and change inherent in 21st
Century American civic life
Cultivate the “public” in public education
Revisit the recommendations from the
Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools
(2003) report, Guardian of Democracy: The
Civic Mission of Schools
Recommendations
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Americans have “a happy impulse to work
together to improve our common life…This
uniquely American art of association tempers
our tendencies toward individualism, and
gives us ‘a habit and taste for serving others’”
(Tocqueville, Volume II, Part II).
Public education --- schools --- must be the
place where we work together to cultivate
these habits in 21st century America
Questions and Discussion
Thank you