Teaching Participatory Democracy
Sarah said to me last night, "Why can't we teach participatory democracy in public schools just like we teach English, or like we teach religion in private schools?"
What kind of society would we have if - from a very early age - private school children were taught that they had a responsibility to vote, just like they had a responsibility to go to church on Sunday or to shul on Saturday? If they had to learn the ins and the outs of the candidates and the issues in the same way that they learned scriptures in Yeshivas or Christian schools? If in addition to conjugating sentences, reading about dinosaurs and memorizing the preamble to the Constitution, they were taught every year what local, regional and national elections meant to them, who was running, what the issues were, and how the media was framing the race?
What if these children grew up learning that being part of a democracy was a honor, and with it came certain responsibilities to inform themselves and to vote?
What if being 18 and being able to vote were just as cool and just as much of a landmark as being 16 and getting your driver's license?
The big question is, can you teach participatory democracy without being partisan? My knee-jerk answer is no - because teachers can't be trusted to outline issues and introduce candidates in an unbiased manner, and because there'd be a huge temptation on the part of the government (which ever party is in control at the time) to wield federal funding for education as a subtle tool to push policy in schools.
But, why can't we find a way to do this in an objective way? Sure, my postmodern undergraduate classes taught me that nothing is objective. But, we can get close. Can't we?
Sarah said to me last night, "Why can't we teach participatory democracy in public schools just like we teach English, or like we teach religion in private schools?"
What kind of society would we have if - from a very early age - private school children were taught that they had a responsibility to vote, just like they had a responsibility to go to church on Sunday or to shul on Saturday? If they had to learn the ins and the outs of the candidates and the issues in the same way that they learned scriptures in Yeshivas or Christian schools? If in addition to conjugating sentences, reading about dinosaurs and memorizing the preamble to the Constitution, they were taught every year what local, regional and national elections meant to them, who was running, what the issues were, and how the media was framing the race?
What if these children grew up learning that being part of a democracy was a honor, and with it came certain responsibilities to inform themselves and to vote?
What if being 18 and being able to vote were just as cool and just as much of a landmark as being 16 and getting your driver's license?
The big question is, can you teach participatory democracy without being partisan? My knee-jerk answer is no - because teachers can't be trusted to outline issues and introduce candidates in an unbiased manner, and because there'd be a huge temptation on the part of the government (which ever party is in control at the time) to wield federal funding for education as a subtle tool to push policy in schools.
But, why can't we find a way to do this in an objective way? Sure, my postmodern undergraduate classes taught me that nothing is objective. But, we can get close. Can't we?
Labels: Politics
posted by isaacjosephson at 8:16 AM
9 Comments:
We did a lot of that in my high school Civics class. I think that's the point of Civics, actually. (Or some schools have "Government.") I'm not sure it's a problem of curricula. Probably has more to do with teachers. Of course I'm also no fan of teachers' unions. I'm more inspired by Chris Whittle than I am by the unions. Perhaps I was always more Right than I ever realized.
I never had Civics class in Springfield, Illinois. Don't know anything about whether its teachers or cirricula. Though I suspect with the former we don't have enough qualified, and with the latter, we don't have enough robust study.
Agreed.
I took it in G.P., MI, and it was a decent class. Better than many of my other classes.
Sarah and I were actually think about something a little more involved than a Civics class, though that sounds like it would be a wonderful start.
Could you please qualify that statement and write "MOST teachers"? C'mon--you know better. But I get your point. You really CAN'T trust science teachers who tell kids that Dinosaur bones were put here by God to trick us and test our faith. But I think we COULD trust most teachers to teach the process and ideals of participatory democracy. It's when you get to the "applied" part of the course--looking at actual races that are happening or coming up--that you arrive at the bias problem.
I'd have to look it up--but don't most states have some kind of "civics" requirement? We did, believe it or not. Remember having to pass the Constitution test in high school?
Sorry-- just read your comment, IJ.
We did have Civics class--it was called Government/Econ. One semester of one, one semester of the other. I think it was Senior year. Maybe Junior year. I had Mr. Burt for the former, and Mr. Keyes for the latter, as I recall. And it was not a tracked class. Everyone took it.
TM
Just lurking here to check in on your life Isaac, but had to comment. My first blog comment. You know, I am currently applying for grant money to institute something very much like this, I have spent the last year studying/researching these issues and teaching some classes in this vein. It is possible to do this in a somewhat non-partisan manner. Civics has been cut from NYC public schools, which is one reason for the new urgency (the other reason being the hijacking of our country by anti-democratic forces, but I digress). Anyway, would love to talk about this further - theories of democracy has been my main focus the past 5 years!
Amy - Sounds like we should talk. Seeing as how you live 1/2 mile from me, that shouldn't be too hard. How can Sarah/I get involved in this?
Let me know, too.
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