Civic Pedagogies and Liberal-Democratic Curricula

Ethics

Volumn 108, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 746-761

  Coleman, Joe ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0010775750     PISSN: 00141704     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/233850     Document Type: Article

References (75)

1. Amy Gutmann, "Civic Education and Social Diversity," Ethics 105 (1995): 557-79; Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson, Democracy and Disagreement (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996), pp. 63-69; and Stephen Macedo, "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism: The Case of God v. John Rawls?" Ethics 105 (1995): 468- 96. I think it important to point out that while Gutmann's argument in "Civic Education and Social Diversity" agrees with Macedo on this point, her main concern focuses on issues surrounding the indeterminacy of supposed differences which exist between comprehensive and political liberalisms when it comes to evaluating the ways in which each is capable of approaching issues of social diversity.
2. Amy Gutmann, "Civic Education and Social Diversity," Ethics 105 (1995): 557-79; Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson, Democracy and Disagreement (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996), pp. 63-69; and Stephen Macedo, "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism: The Case of God v. John Rawls?" Ethics 105 (1995): 468- 96. I think it important to point out that while Gutmann's argument in "Civic Education and Social Diversity" agrees with Macedo on this point, her main concern focuses on issues surrounding the indeterminacy of supposed differences which exist between comprehensive and political liberalisms when it comes to evaluating the ways in which each is capable of approaching issues of social diversity.
3. Amy Gutmann, "Civic Education and Social Diversity," Ethics 105 (1995): 557-79; Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson, Democracy and Disagreement (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996), pp. 63-69; and Stephen Macedo, "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism: The Case of God v. John Rawls?" Ethics 105 (1995): 468-96. I think it important to point out that while Gutmann's argument in "Civic Education and Social Diversity" agrees with Macedo on this point, her main concern focuses on issues surrounding the indeterminacy of supposed differences which exist between comprehensive and political liberalisms when it comes to evaluating the ways in which each is capable of approaching issues of social diversity.
4. Amy Gutmann, "Undemocratic Education," in Liberalism and the Moral Life, ed. Nancy Rosenblum (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989), p. 79, and "Civic Education and Social Diversity," pp. 577-79; Stephen Macedo, "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism," p. 495, and "Multiculturalism for the Religious Right? Defending Liberal Civic Education," Journal of the Philosophy of Education 29 (1995): 223- 38, pp. 223, 225.
5. Amy Gutmann, "Undemocratic Education," in Liberalism and the Moral Life, ed. Nancy Rosenblum (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989), p. 79, and "Civic Education and Social Diversity," pp. 577-79; Stephen Macedo, "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism," p. 495, and "Multiculturalism for the Religious Right? Defending Liberal Civic Education," Journal of the Philosophy of Education 29 (1995): 223- 38, pp. 223, 225.
6. Amy Gutmann, "Undemocratic Education," in Liberalism and the Moral Life, ed. Nancy Rosenblum (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989), p. 79, and "Civic Education and Social Diversity," pp. 577-79; Stephen Macedo, "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism," p. 495, and "Multiculturalism for the Religious Right? Defending Liberal Civic Education," Journal of the Philosophy of Education 29 (1995): 223- 38, pp. 223, 225.
7. Amy Gutmann, "Undemocratic Education," in Liberalism and the Moral Life, ed. Nancy Rosenblum (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989), p. 79, and "Civic Education and Social Diversity," pp. 577-79; Stephen Macedo, "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism," p. 495, and "Multiculturalism for the Religious Right? Defending Liberal Civic Education," Journal of the Philosophy of Education 29 (1995): 223-38, pp. 223, 225.
8. Amy Gutmann, Democratic Education (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1987), pp. 50-52, and "Democratic Education in Difficult Times," Teachers College Record 92 (1990): 7-20, p. 19; Maceclo, "Multiculturalism for the Religious Right?" p. 225.
9. Amy Gutmann, Democratic Education (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1987), pp. 50-52, and "Democratic Education in Difficult Times," Teachers College Record 92 (1990): 7-20, p. 19; Maceclo, "Multiculturalism for the Religious Right?" p. 225.
10. Amy Gutmann, Democratic Education (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1987), pp. 50-52, and "Democratic Education in Difficult Times," Teachers College Record 92 (1990): 7-20, p. 19; Maceclo, "Multiculturalism for the Religious Right?" p. 225.
11. Gutmann, "Civic Education and Social Diversity," p. 578.
12. Macedo, "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism," p. 475.
13. See Gutmann, "Civic Education and Social Diversity," pp. 578-79; Stephen Macedo, Liberal Virtues: Citizenship, Virtue, and Community in Liberal Constitutionalism (Oxford: Clarendon, 1990), and "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism," p. 475.
14. See Gutmann, "Civic Education and Social Diversity," pp. 578-79; Stephen Macedo, Liberal Virtues: Citizenship, Virtue, and Community in Liberal Constitutionalism (Oxford: Clarendon, 1990), and "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism," p. 475.
15. See Gutmann, "Civic Education and Social Diversity," pp. 578-79; Stephen Macedo, Liberal Virtues: Citizenship, Virtue, and Community in Liberal Constitutionalism (Oxford: Clarendon, 1990), and "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism," p. 475.
16. Gutmann, "Civic Education and Social Diversity," p. 571.
17. Ibid., p. 573.
18. Ibid., pp. 576, 577-79; Macedo, "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism," p. 495, "Multiculturalism for the Religious Right?" p. 223, and Liberal Virtues.
19. Ibid., pp. 576, 577-79; Macedo, "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism," p. 495, "Multiculturalism for the Religious Right?" p. 223, and Liberal Virtues.
20. Ibid., pp. 576, 577-79; Macedo, "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism," p. 495, "Multiculturalism for the Religious Right?" p. 223, and Liberal Virtues.
21. John Rawls, Political Liberalism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), pp. 190-200.
22. See Rawls's comments on the impracticability of determining neutrality of effect (p. 193).
23. The term 'student-centered' is used as opposed to more traditional teacher-centered methods of teaching.
24. Robert E. Slavin, Cooperative Learning (New York: Longman, 1983), and Student Team Learning: A Practical Guide to Cooperative Learning (Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, 1991).
25. Robert E. Slavin, Cooperative Learning (New York: Longman, 1983), and Student Team Learning: A Practical Guide to Cooperative Learning (Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, 1991).
26. Slavin, quoted in James C. Hendrix, "Cooperative Learning: Building a Democratic Community," Clearing House 69 (1996): 333-36.
27. Slavin, Cooperative Learning, chap. 1.
28. Ibid., p. 3.
29. Hendrix, pp. 333-34.
30. Fred M. Newmann, Helen M. Marks, and Adam Gamoran, "Authentic Pedagogy and Student Performance," American Journal of Education 104 (1996): 280-312, pp. 280-81.
31. Diane E. Levin, Teaching Young Children in Violent Times: Building a Peaceable Classroom (Cambridge, Mass.: Educators for Social Responsibility, 1994), p. 22.
32. Newmann, Marks, and Gamoran, p. 281.
33. Linda Lantieri and Janet Patti, Waging Peace in Our Schools (Boston: Beacon, 1996); Levin; Deborah Meier, The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem (Boston: Beacon, 1995); George H. Wood, Schools That Work: America's Most Innovative Public Education Programs (New York: Plume, 1992).
34. Linda Lantieri and Janet Patti, Waging Peace in Our Schools (Boston: Beacon, 1996); Levin; Deborah Meier, The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem (Boston: Beacon, 1995); George H. Wood, Schools That Work: America's Most Innovative Public Education Programs (New York: Plume, 1992).
35. Linda Lantieri and Janet Patti, Waging Peace in Our Schools (Boston: Beacon, 1996); Levin; Deborah Meier, The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem (Boston: Beacon, 1995); George H. Wood, Schools That Work: America's Most Innovative Public Education Programs (New York: Plume, 1992).
36. Levin, p. 35.
37. Ibid., chaps. 2 and 3.
38. See, e.g., Mike Rose, Possible Lives: The Promise of Public Education in America (New York: Penguin, 1995), pp. 65-72.
39. Also see E. D. Hirsch's complaints about what he sees as a widespread pedagogical fetishism in the educational community which comes at the expense of curricular concerns. E. D. Hirsch, Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987), and The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them (New York: Doubleday, 1996).
40. Also see E. D. Hirsch's complaints about what he sees as a widespread pedagogical fetishism in the educational community which comes at the expense of curricular concerns. E. D. Hirsch, Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987), and The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them (New York: Doubleday, 1996).
41. Theodore Sizer, Horace's Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High School (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984), p. 99 and chap. 3.
42. Ibid., p. 104.
43. Ibid., chap. 4.
44. Ibid., chap. 5.
45. Ibid., p. 34.
46. Ibid., p. 131.
47. Meier, p. 50.
48. Ibid., pp. 170-71.
49. In fact, Slavin and others designed cooperative learning techniques to help promote the effort to substantively desegregate the public schools (see Slavin, Cooperative Learning).
50. Other theorists concerned with the liberal virtues include William Galston and John Rawls. See, e.g., William Galston, Liberal Purposes: Goods, Virtues, and Diversity in the Liberal State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991); and Rawls, chap. 5.
51. Compare Meier, p. 168; Rose, chap. 10; Sizer, chap. 6; and Wood.
52. See, e.g., William Y. Lan and Judi Repman, "The Effects of Social Learning Context and Modeling on Persistence and Dynamism in Academic Activities," Journal of Experimental Education 64 (1995): 53-67; Marianne Miserandino, "Children Who Do Well in School: Individual Differences in Perceived Competence and Autonomy in Above-Average Children," Journal of Educational Psychology 88 (1996): 203-14; Robert W. Roser, Carol Midgley, and Timothy C. Urdan, "Perceptions of the School Psychological Environment and Early Adolescents' Psychological and Behavioral Functioning in School: The Mediating Role of Goals and Belonging," Journal of Educational Psychology 88 (1996): 408-22; Dale H. Schunk, "Goal and Self-Evaluative Influences during Children's Cognitive Skill Learning," American Educational Research Journal 33 (1996): 359-82; Hendrix; Slavin, Cooperative Learning, and Student Team Learning.
53. See, e.g., William Y. Lan and Judi Repman, "The Effects of Social Learning Context and Modeling on Persistence and Dynamism in Academic Activities," Journal of Experimental Education 64 (1995): 53-67; Marianne Miserandino, "Children Who Do Well in School: Individual Differences in Perceived Competence and Autonomy in Above-Average Children," Journal of Educational Psychology 88 (1996): 203-14; Robert W. Roser, Carol Midgley, and Timothy C. Urdan, "Perceptions of the School Psychological Environment and Early Adolescents' Psychological and Behavioral Functioning in School: The Mediating Role of Goals and Belonging," Journal of Educational Psychology 88 (1996): 408-22; Dale H. Schunk, "Goal and Self-Evaluative Influences during Children's Cognitive Skill Learning," American Educational Research Journal 33 (1996): 359-82; Hendrix; Slavin, Cooperative Learning, and Student Team Learning.
54. See, e.g., William Y. Lan and Judi Repman, "The Effects of Social Learning Context and Modeling on Persistence and Dynamism in Academic Activities," Journal of Experimental Education 64 (1995): 53-67; Marianne Miserandino, "Children Who Do Well in School: Individual Differences in Perceived Competence and Autonomy in Above-Average Children," Journal of Educational Psychology 88 (1996): 203-14; Robert W. Roser, Carol Midgley, and Timothy C. Urdan, "Perceptions of the School Psychological Environment and Early Adolescents' Psychological and Behavioral Functioning in School: The Mediating Role of Goals and Belonging," Journal of Educational Psychology 88 (1996): 408-22; Dale H. Schunk, "Goal and Self-Evaluative Influences during Children's Cognitive Skill Learning," American Educational Research Journal 33 (1996): 359-82; Hendrix; Slavin, Cooperative Learning, and Student Team Learning.
55. See, e.g., William Y. Lan and Judi Repman, "The Effects of Social Learning Context and Modeling on Persistence and Dynamism in Academic Activities," Journal of Experimental Education 64 (1995): 53-67; Marianne Miserandino, "Children Who Do Well in School: Individual Differences in Perceived Competence and Autonomy in Above-Average Children," Journal of Educational Psychology 88 (1996): 203-14; Robert W. Roser, Carol Midgley, and Timothy C. Urdan, "Perceptions of the School Psychological Environment and Early Adolescents' Psychological and Behavioral Functioning in School: The Mediating Role of Goals and Belonging," Journal of Educational Psychology 88 (1996): 408-22; Dale H. Schunk, "Goal and Self-Evaluative Influences during Children's Cognitive Skill Learning," American Educational Research Journal 33 (1996): 359-82; Hendrix; Slavin, Cooperative Learning, and Student Team Learning.
56. See, e.g., William Y. Lan and Judi Repman, "The Effects of Social Learning Context and Modeling on Persistence and Dynamism in Academic Activities," Journal of Experimental Education 64 (1995): 53-67; Marianne Miserandino, "Children Who Do Well in School: Individual Differences in Perceived Competence and Autonomy in Above-Average Children," Journal of Educational Psychology 88 (1996): 203-14; Robert W. Roser, Carol Midgley, and Timothy C. Urdan, "Perceptions of the School Psychological Environment and Early Adolescents' Psychological and Behavioral Functioning in School: The Mediating Role of Goals and Belonging," Journal of Educational Psychology 88 (1996): 408-22; Dale H. Schunk, "Goal and Self-Evaluative Influences during Children's Cognitive Skill Learning," American Educational Research Journal 33 (1996): 359-82; Hendrix; Slavin, Cooperative Learning, and Student Team Learning.
57. Macedo, "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism," pp. 483-84.
58. Macedo does talk about India and that State's "equidistance" policy. But note that these concerns are only relevant if we view exemptions as an either/or choice between political liberalism and substantive neutrality - that is, between neutrality of aim and neutrality of effect. However, India runs into problems because it tries to honor this latter understanding of neutrality. I see my argument as compatible with political liberalism insofar as civic pedagogies meet the same politically liberal end while also providing for a more - though not wholly - neutral effect.
59. See Stephen Bates, Battleground: One Mother's Crusade, the Religious Right, and the Struggle for Control of Our Classrooms (New York: Poseidon, 1993), chap. 10.
60. Macedo, "Liberal Civic Education and Religions Fundamentalism," p. 483.
61. It is important to remember that the Holt readers were not selected by the Hawkins County Board of Education because of a desire to conduct civic education - although they later argued their case on those grounds. At the time, this was a situation wherein parents wanted their children to be exempted from a reading program, nothing more, nothing less. See Bates, pp. 35, 86-87.
62. Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972).
63. On this point, see Macedo, "Liberal Civil Education and Religious Fundamentalism," p. 489.
64. Gutmann thus argues that a deliberative, publicly reasonable self will invariably spill over into one's private identity, subjecting all beliefs to the demands of autonomy, individualism, and public reason (see Gutmann, "Civic Education and Social Diversity," p. 578). Note also that both civic and academic purposes are political reasons for using progressive pedagogies.
65. Although not necessarily from schooling or some form of civic education. Note that Macedo goes so far as to argue that liberal civic education is a sufficiently compelling state interest so as to warrant State regulation of private schools (Macedo, "Liberal Civic Education and Religious Fundamentalism," p. 486). While not entirely comfortable with such a position, I do not see a way around such a conclusion, given that I've accepted his claims about the necessity of civic education. However, what this regulation amounts to in practice is not clear. It is probably not the case that we need to specify how civic education occurs in private schools so long as it produces the desired results.
66. Indeed, much of the debate within the field of political socialization research has been concerned with explaining why schools seem to have so little impact on students via civic education. See M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi, The Political Character of Adolescence: The Influence of Families and Schools (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1974); and Kenneth P. Langton and M. Kent Jennings, "Political Socialization and the High School Civics Curriculum in the United States," American Political Science Review 62 (1968): 852-67. Contra this, Richard Niemi and Jane Junn have recently shown that previous research has failed to tap the ways in which schools are effective in promoting civic knowledge. However, their work revolves around the ways and extent to which students learn political facts and not the ways in which schools are able to shape their character. See Richard Niemi and Jane Junn, Civic Education: What Makes Students Learn (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1998).
67. Indeed, much of the debate within the field of political socialization research has been concerned with explaining why schools seem to have so little impact on students via civic education. See M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi, The Political Character of Adolescence: The Influence of Families and Schools (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1974); and Kenneth P. Langton and M. Kent Jennings, "Political Socialization and the High School Civics Curriculum in the United States," American Political Science Review 62 (1968): 852-67. Contra this, Richard Niemi and Jane Junn have recently shown that previous research has failed to tap the ways in which schools are effective in promoting civic knowledge. However, their work revolves around the ways and extent to which students learn political facts and not the ways in which schools are able to shape their character. See Richard Niemi and Jane Junn, Civic Education: What Makes Students Learn (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1998).
68. Indeed, much of the debate within the field of political socialization research has been concerned with explaining why schools seem to have so little impact on students via civic education. See M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi, The Political Character of Adolescence: The Influence of Families and Schools (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1974); and Kenneth P. Langton and M. Kent Jennings, "Political Socialization and the High School Civics Curriculum in the United States," American Political Science Review 62 (1968): 852-67. Contra this, Richard Niemi and Jane Junn have recently shown that previous research has failed to tap the ways in which schools are effective in promoting civic knowledge. However, their work revolves around the ways and extent to which students learn political facts and not the ways in which schools are able to shape their character. See Richard Niemi and Jane Junn, Civic Education: What Makes Students Learn (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1998).
69. On this point, see Sixth Circuit Court Judge Boggs's concurring opinion, quoted in Bates, pp. 293-95.
70. See, e.g., Fred I. Greenstein, Children and Politics (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1965); Robert D. Hess and Judith V. Torney, The Development of Political Attitudes in Children (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor, 1968); M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi, The Political Character of Adolescence, and Generations and Politics: A Panel Study of Young Adults and Their Parents (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981).
71. See, e.g., Fred I. Greenstein, Children and Politics (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1965); Robert D. Hess and Judith V. Torney, The Development of Political Attitudes in Children (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor, 1968); M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi, The Political Character of Adolescence, and Generations and Politics: A Panel Study of Young Adults and Their Parents (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981).
72. See, e.g., Fred I. Greenstein, Children and Politics (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1965); Robert D. Hess and Judith V. Torney, The Development of Political Attitudes in Children (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor, 1968); M. Kent Jennings and Richard G. Niemi, The Political Character of Adolescence, and Generations and Politics: A Panel Study of Young Adults and Their Parents (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981).
73. Bates, particularly chap. 10.
74. In fact, just this point was made by one of the Sixth Circuit Court judges who ruled that fundamentalist children had to participate in the Hawkins County reading program (ibid., p. 294).
75. Note that this follows given the historical facts and processes surrounding the Mozert case - i.e., the parents first objected to the curriculum. As I have shown, we can imagine this process being reversed.