Recommended Reading: Westheimer – “No Child Left Thinking: Democracy At-Risk in American Schools”

This is a great article to read when thinking about the teaching of democracy, citizenship, and ideology. Westheimer makes a strong argument about why we need to include lessons that build critical thinking skills and stronger citizenship. I will summarize and quote some of Westheimer’s points here however, I strongly recommend reading this article in full. It is also found in our course outline.

Westheimer’s argument and alarming evidence that students are left not thinking:

He begins this article by explaining that recently, “some of the very foundations of democratic engagement, such as independent thinking and critical analysis, have come under attack. If being a good democratic citizen requires thinking critically about important social assumptions, then that foundation of citizenship is at odds with recent trends in education policy. In the past five years, hundreds of schools, districts, states, and even the federal government have enacted policies that seek to restrict critical analysis of historical and contemporary events in the school curriculum” (p 4).

Some thought provoking and alarming examples used:

-“In June 2006, the Florida Education Omnibus Bill included language specifying that, “The history of the United States shall be taught as genuine history.... American history shall be viewed as factual, not as constructed, shall be viewed as knowable, teachable, and testable. For example, the bill requires that only facts be taught when it comes to discussing the “period of discovery” and the early colonies. Florida is perhaps the first state to ban historical interpretation in public schools, thereby effectively outlawing critical thinking” (p 4).

-“In Colorado, a student was suspended for posting flyers advertising a student protest.”

-“In Bay City, Michigan, wearing a Tshirt with an anti-war quotation by Albert Einstein was grounds for suspension” (p 4).

Negative outcomes from implemented testing:

Westheimer argues that the relentless focus on testing and “achievement” means that time for in-depth critical analysis of ideas is diminished (p 5).

-“Because of the immense pressure to achieve high academic results on exams and elevate prestigious college entrance rates, independent schools are “over-directed” so that students do not have “sufficient opportunity or incentive to think for themselves.” Increasingly following formulas that “spoonfeed” students to succeed on narrow academic tests, independent schools, Hubbard warned, “teach students not to think.”

Westheimer found that, “ ‘good citizenship’ to many educators means listening to authority figures, dressing neatly, being nice to neighbors, and helping out at a soup kitchen — not grappling with the kinds of social policy decisions that every citizen in a democratic society needs to learn how to do” (7). Therefore we, as educators, need to look beyond this definition of citizenship and move towards teaching and being the social-justice oriented citizen.

"Belief in the fundamental importance of education for democracy has been long-standing. And yet these beliefs are at risk in schools today" (p 8).

Solution:

“For democracy to remain vibrant, educators must convey to students that critical thinking and action are both important components of democratic civic life. Moreover, students must learn that they have important contributions to make. Democracy is not a spectator sport” (p 8).

Article also includes:

This article includes an organized chart that categorizes three types of citizens to help you, as a teacher, to know what catagory you tend to be aiming for in you lessons. Those categories include: the personally responsible citizens, the participatory citizens, and the social-justice oriented citizens. It also significantly includes resources for teachers, with direct links, that cover topics such as current issues on the war in Iraq and terrorism and teaching with the news.

 Check it out!http://www.democraticdialogue.com/DDpdfs/DD17-Westheimer.pdf

-Sarah

Work Cited

Westheimer , J.(2008). “No Child Left Thinking: Democracy at-risk in American schools.” Colleagues 3 (2), 8.  http://www.democraticdialogue.com/DDpdfs/DD17-Westheimer.pdf (accessed on February 26, 2013).

A Few Suggestions from Elections Canada

The Elections Canada webpage includes a few suggested lesson plans for teaching democracy available for order or for download. 

The first of these, crafted for Canada's Democracy Week asks students to take what they know about democracy as it exists in Canada and compare it with the systems of government at work in various other countries around the world. The idea is fairly straight forward, and the materials provided include a list of questions for students to centre their research around. The lesson ends with presentations. The strength of this lesson depends on the students' prior knowledge of democracy as it works in Canada, so this information would need to be front loaded.

I wonder about including the definition of democracy as "a universal value" on Handout 1; at best, this statement deserves some serious unpacking.

http://www.democracy-democratie.ca/res/edres/lps/slp-01_e.pdf

The second lesson suggested for Secondary students is a mock election including candidates, campaigning, and role playing for voters in special situations. The election is meant to follow the Canada's constitutional electoral process outlined in the image below. Materials for polling stations and role playing are linked below. I wonder, however, if there is not a way to infuse this task with greater authenticity in order to prevent students from tuning out. Could elections for a Student Representative Council be carried out according to the Canadian model?

Mock election campaign: http://elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=yth/stu/gui&document=adv&lang=e

Sample ballots and other elections materials: http://elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=yth/stu/gui&document=dx&lang=e

"A Pep Talk from Kid President to You"

Why Should We Teach Democracy?

Civic engagement and learning about Democracy seems to be taking more of a back seat lately and this low prioritisation breaks down young people’s education and motivation to participate in a democratic society. Democracy is an important subject because democracy as a system needs participation and many voices to function properly. If we forget about teaching Democracy people will increasingly begin to feel that their voices cannot be heard and this will give more power to large corporations and individual political leaders. When issues are affecting our lives we need to learn that we do not have to be passive and that we can engage in change.

While reflecting on why teaching Democracy is so important I came across a valuable article, “Teaching Democracy: What School Need to Do.” I will do a bit of summarizing here because I feel that this article is very valuable. At the very beginning of their article Kahne and Westheimer make an interesting though provoking point. They ask:

Which of the following headlines never appeared in a daily newspaper?

a) “Capital City Students Show No Gain in Reading, Math – [Premier] Threatens Takeover”

b) “Middletown Schools to be Taken Over by [Province] for Failure to Develop Democratic Citizens”

 

The answer is B and the scary part is how easy this can be answered. Society generally says that we value democracy and a democratic society, yet our schools have generally moved away from preparing our students to be active democratic citizens.

The American studies that Kahne and Westheimer highlight show that civic engagement numbers are declining. For 25% fewer citizens go to the polls today to vote then did in 1960, largely declining with the young people, and political participation is at a 40 year low. Yet when the Coca-Cola Company announced it was changing the recipe, its Atlanta head quarters received 40,000 letters of protest and fielded 5,000 phone calls per day for months. They propose then that the problem is that young citizens in particular are disengaged from politics and need to be taught to make democracy work, to engage civically, socially, and politically (pg 299).

Kahne and Westheimer propose that teachers need to go beyond teaching service and character to programs that teach democracy: They suggest, “Commitment, Capacity, and Connection”:

Commitment

1. “Show students that society needs improving by examining social problems and controversial issues” -help students understand why they should bother

2. “Provide positive experiences in civic participation” -positive experiences in civic participation strengthen student’s commitments, it's not just a field trip.

Capacity

1. “Engage students in Real-World problems” –students own participation becomes more plausible and appropriate

2. “Teach skills and provide knowledge through workshops and simulations” – builds skills and strategies

Connection

1. “Communities of Support” –requires the creation of a social milieu

2. “Connections to compelling role models” –to help develop a vision for a life filled with civic commitments

Kahne and Westheimer explain why we need to be teaching Democracy best, they argue;

“Young people need to be taught to make democracy work, to engage civically, socially, and politically. At the same time that lobbyists are spending hundreds of millions of dollars, many ordinary citizens are passive and apathetic when it comes to major issues that affect their lives. If policies regarding the environment, taxes, military spending, and health care — to name just a few — are to reflect public sentiments rather than the interests of well financed lobbyists, they require the attention of ordinary citizens. Improving society requires making democracy work. And making democracy work requires that schools take this goal seriously: to educate and nurture engaged and informed democratic citizens.” (pg 299)

Now there are some great reasons to teach democracy! Now where else can we teach democracy outside of Social Studies courses?

-Sarah A

Works Cited

Kahne, Joseph and Joel Westheimer. “Teaching Democracy: What School Need to Do.” In The Social Studies Curriculum: Purposes, Problems, and Possibilities, edited by E. Wayne Ross, 297-316. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006. http://www.mills.edu/academics/faculty/educ/jkahne/pdk_teaching_democracy.pdf