Civic Education in the Twenty-First Century

Civic Education in the Twenty-First Century
Author: Michael T. Rogers
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 529
Release: 2015-09-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0739193503

Imagine an America where politicians, governmental institutions, schools, new technologies, and interest groups work together to promote informed, engaged citizens. Civic Education in the Twenty-First Century brings together scholars from various disciplines to show how such a United States is possible today. Inspired by Alexis de Tocqueville’s analysis of American democracy in the early 1800s, this edited volume represents a multidimensional evaluation of civic education in its new and varied forms. While some lament a civics crisis in America today, Civic Education in the Twenty-First Century raises hope that we can have an informed and active citizenry. We find the activities of a number of politicians, government institutions, schools and interest groups as promising developments in the struggle to educate and engage Americans in their democracy. New technologies and new innovations in civic education have laid the foundation for a revitalized American civic ecology. With Civic Education in the Twenty-First Century, we call for the United States to make these practices less isolated and more common throughout the county. The volume is broken into three major sections. First there are four chapters exploring the history and philosophical debates about civic education, particularly with respect to its role in America’s educational institutions. Then, the second section provides seven groundbreaking inquiries into how politicians and political institutions can promote civic education and engagement through their routine operations. As some examples, this section explores how politicians through campaigns and judiciaries through community programs enhance civic knowledge and encourage civic engagement. This section also explores how new technologies like the Internet and social media are increasingly used by government institutions and other entities to encourage a more politically informed and engaged citizenry. Finally, the third section contains six chapters that explore programs and practices in higher education that are enhancing civic education, engagement and our knowledge of them. From the virtual civics campus of Fort Hayes State to citizens’ academies throughout the country, this section shows the possibilities for schools today to once again be civics actors and promoters.

Civic Education

Civic Education
Author: Richard G. Niemi
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2005-05-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780300107449

Sound democratic decisions rely on a citizenry with at least a partial mastery of the rules and workings of democratic government. American high schools, where students learn the basics of citizenship, thus ought to play a critical role in the success of democracy. Yet studies examining the impact of high school government and civics courses on political knowledge over the past quarter-century have generally shown that these courses have little or no effect. In this important book, Richard G. Niemi and Jane Junn take a fresh look at what America's high school seniors know about government and politics and how they learn it. The authors argue convincingly that secondary school civics courses do indeed enhance students' civic knowledge. This book is based on the most extensive assessment to date of civic knowledge among American youth--the 1988 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) Civics Assessment. The authors develop and test a theoretical model to explain the cognitive process by which students learn about politics and they conclude by suggesting specific changes in the style and emphasis of civics teaching.

Teaching America

Teaching America
Author: David Feith
Publisher: R&L Education
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2011-09-16
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1607098407

In Teaching America, more than 20 leading thinkers sound the alarm over a crisis in citizenship--and lay out a powerful agenda for reform. The book's unprecedented roster of authors includes Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Senator Jon Kyl, Senator Bob Graham, Secretary Rod Paige, Alan Dershowitz, Juan Williams, Glenn Reynolds, Michael Kazin, Frederick Hess, Andrew Rotherham, Mike Feinberg, Seth Andrew, Mark Bauerlein and more. Their message: To remain America, our country has to give its kids a civic identity, an understanding of our constitutional system, and some appreciation of the amazing achievements of American self-government. But we are failing. Young Americans know little about the Bill of Rights, the democratic process, or the civil rights movement. Three of every four high school seniors aren't proficient in civics, nine of ten can't cut it in U.S. history, and the problem is only aggravated by universities' disregard for civic education. Such civic illiteracy weakens our common culture, disenfranchises would-be voters, and helps poison our politics.

Citizenship Education and Global Migration

Citizenship Education and Global Migration
Author: James A. Banks
Publisher:
Total Pages: 739
Release: 2017-06-23
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0935302654

This groundbreaking book describes theory, research, and practice that can be used in civic education courses and programs to help students from marginalized and minoritized groups in nations around the world attain a sense of structural integration and political efficacy within their nation-states, develop civic participation skills, and reflective cultural, national, and global identities.

Civic and Citizenship Education in Volatile Times

Civic and Citizenship Education in Volatile Times
Author: Kerry J Kennedy
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2019-04-23
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9811363862

The book highlights current issues influencing civic and citizenship education and their theoretical underpinnings. It provides an overview of the key features influencing ‘democratic deconsolidation’ , suggests ways in which civic and citizenship education needs to be reframed in order to fit this new political environment, and demonstrates how social media will play a significant role in any future for civic and citizenship education. Currently, democratic institutions are under attack, democratic values are threatened, and there is a wide-scale retreat from the liberal consensus that has underpinned liberal democracies internationally. These trends can be seen in events like, Brexit, the election of a right-wing populist President of the United States and, anti-democratic governments in parts of Europe. It is this change in the direction of political ideology that is currently ‘deconsolidating democracy’ and thus challenging traditional approaches to civic and citizenship education. What is urgently needed is an understanding of these current trends and their implications for thinking in new ways about civic and citizenship education in the 21st century.

Civic Education & Culture

Civic Education & Culture
Author: Bradley C. S. Watson
Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2005
Genre: Education
ISBN:

What do we teach our citizens? This great Platonic question is as crucial today as it has ever been. America and the West come to terms with this question in the context of their richly diverse, technologically sophisticated, fundamentally individualistic societies. Virtually all would agree that such diversity, sophistication, and freedom are positive political and cultural goods, but many would also argue that they militate against the coherence that all regimes and civilizations must, in some way, demand. The nature, extent, and coherence of civic education are perhaps the greatest determinants of a regime's politics and culture, and the regime can in turn do much to foster the right kind of civic education. This book presents the insights of renowned scholars and writers, including Stephen H. Balch, Timothy Fuller, and Roger Kimball, who have thought broadly and deeply about the role that education at all levels plays in promoting, maintaining, or undermining our politics, culture, and society.

Building Better Citizens

Building Better Citizens
Author: Holly Korbey
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2019-10-21
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1475843453

Educating for citizenship was the original mission of American schools, but for decades that knowledge—also known as civics education—has been in decline, as schools have shifted focus to college and career, STEM, and raising reading and math scores. But over the last few years, spurred on by political polarization and a steep decline in public understanding, civics education is seeing a nation-wide resurgence, as school leaders, educators, and parents recognize the urgency of teaching young people how America works—especially young people who have been marginalized from the political system. But this isn’t your grandmother’s civics. The “new” civics has been updated and re-tooled for the phone-addicted, multi-cultural, globalized twenty-first century kid. From combatting “fake news” with fact checking in Silicon Valley, to reviving elementary school social studies in Nashville, to learning civic activism in Oklahoma City, journalist Holly Korbey documents the grassroots revival happening across the country. Along the way, she provides an essential guidebook for educators, school leaders and caregivers of all types who want to educate a new generation of engaged citizens at a critical time in American democracy.

Teaching Civic Engagement Globally

Teaching Civic Engagement Globally
Author: Elizabeth Matto
Publisher: American Political Science Association
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2021-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781878147646

A thriving and peaceful democracy requires an informed and engaged citizenry, but such citizenship must be learned. Educators around the globe are facing challenges in teaching politics in an era in which populist values are on the rise, authoritarian governance is legitimized, and core democratic tenets are regularly undermined by leaders and citizens alike. To combat anti-democratic outcomes and citizens' apathy, Teaching Civic Engagement Globally provides a wide range of pedagogical tools to help the current generation learn to effectively navigate debates and lead changes in local, national, and global politics. Contributors discuss key theoretical discussions and challenges regarding global civic engagement education, highlight successful evidence-based pedagogical approaches, and review effective ways to reach across disciplines and the global education community. Most importantly, the book provides tangible steps to link democratic education research with action that reflects contemporary global circumstances.

Teaching Civic Engagement

Teaching Civic Engagement
Author: Alison Rios Millett McCartney
Publisher:
Total Pages: 536
Release: 2013
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781878147400

Teaching Civic Engagement provides an exploration of key theoretical discussions, innovative ideas, and best practices in educating citizens in the 21st century. The book addresses theoretical debates over the place of civic engagement education in Political Science. It offers pedagogical examples in several sub-fields, including evidence of their effectiveness and models of appropriate assessment. Written by political scientists from a range of institutions and subfields, Teaching Civic Engagement makes the case that civic and political engagement should be a central part of our mission as a discipline.

Diversity, Transformative Knowledge, and Civic Education

Diversity, Transformative Knowledge, and Civic Education
Author: James A. Banks
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2020-03-12
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000039234

WINNER 2021 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award The essays collected in this book, by James A. Banks, a foundational figure in the field of multicultural education, illuminate the interconnection between the author’s work on knowledge construction and civic education. In pieces both poignant and personal, Banks shares some of his most groundbreaking and innovative work. Diversity, Transformative Knowledge, and Civic Education aims to unpack the "citizenship-education dilemma," whereby education programs strive to teach students democratic ideals and values within social, economic, political, and educational contexts that contradict justice, equality, and human rights. For change to take place, students need to internalize democratic values, by directly experiencing them in transformative classrooms and schools that are envisioned and described in this book. Drawn from Banks’ formidable canon, this collection highlights the conceptual, curricular, and pedagogical issues related to this dilemma, and signals a fundamental shift toward transformative citizenship education. Students, scholars and educators in the fields of multicultural education, civic education, social studies education, comparative education, and the foundations of education will find this book to be a valuable resource for discussion and discovery.