Teaching Students How to Think Critically: The Confederate Flag Controversy in the High School Social Studies Classroom

Abstract

The racially tinged Confederate flag debate in South Carolina is viewed as a signifier of more popular struggles over the representation of "southern heritage" and under girds the social studies unit described in this paper. The unit was designed to teach the curriculum from a popular cultural, issues-oriented perspective using critical pedagogical techniques. Using the Confederate battle flag as an organizing theme, the unit's substantive components include critical and reflective exercises such as journaling, debating, writing essays, researching, and role-playing. Both traditional assessment strategies as well as alternative assessment strategies (e.g., portfolio development, free-writes, and performances) were used to determine students' learning and interests. The unit was taught in a conservative, rural, working-class, majority White, upstate South Carolina school setting. This approach enabled the students within the blue-collar population to think critically and reflectively about their own positions, privileges, attitudes, beliefs, and "heritages," as well as see that democracy in action is painful at times, messy, and even embarrassing, but necessary if society is to reach inclusive compromises.

The pedagogy of controversy in the field of China Studies: Teaching the Cultural Revolution

“…Yet Gallaher's compelling analysis is lacking in concrete, specifi c recommendations for pedagogical practice. Susan Schramm-Pate and Richard Lussier's study based on the implementation of a critical pedagogical approach to the confederate fl ag controversy in South Carolina highlights far more clearly the importance of diversifying media to promote new perspectives in a rural, working-class, white and conservative community (Schramm-Pate and Lussier 2003). Moving beyond state-mandated textbooks with their 'traditional narrative of progress, peace, freedom, democracy, and prosperity with things just getting better all the time' and their reliably conservative interpretation of the notion of 'Southern heritage' (Schramm-Pate and Lussier 2003: 61), these instructors incorporated novel reading materials on the 2000 controversy surrounding the display of the Confederate Flag on the grounds of the South Carolina State House, including newspaper articles from the local and national press and statements from the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.…”

Teaching About Language, Power, and Text: A Review of Classroom Practices That Support Critical Literacy

“…Wolk (2003) presented a generalized, multifaceted strategy to teach for critical literacy that may involve adding fiction, nonfiction, and newspapers to the standard curriculum; connecting students' experiences and opinions to the subject matter; and using writing to foster critical viewpoints. An example of such an approach was described by Schramm-Pate and Lussier (2003). In their article, the school textbook was augmented with readings from magazines, newspapers, and websites that discussed the removal of the Confederate flag from atop the South Carolina state house (reading supplementary texts).…”

The effects of antiracism education on intended confrontation of institutional discrimination: A game theory approach

“…Although education that frames systemic racism as White privilege is more effective than education that frames inequalities as anti‐Black oppression (Littleford & Jones, 2017; Powell et al, 2005), privilege and oppression are interrelated and inextricable components of systemic racism. Learning about systemic racism through both frames may result in meaningful changes in attitudes and race‐related cognitions; indeed, much antiracism education incorporates teaching about both White privilege and racial oppression (Cullen, 2009; DeTample, 2018; Sanchez et al, 2019; Schramm‐Pate & Lussier, 2003; Syed, 2009). Although research has examined the effects of racism‐related education on support for specific policies (e.g., Lowery et al, 2012; Powell et al, 2005), little research has focused on the impact of antiracism education on direct confrontation of discriminatory policies.…”

“…Further, reflective writing is used as a pedagogical tool in numerous educational contexts, including healthcare provision (Peeters & Sexton, 2020), criminal justice (Scheidegger, 2020), and multicultural counseling (Nittoli & Guiffrida, 2018). Critical pedagogy and anti‐oppression education frequently supplement lessons with expressive writing activities to encourage students to contemplate their privileged and disadvantaged social positions and engage in action steps (Cullen, 2009; Marchman, 2002; Sanchez et al, 2019; Schramm‐Pate & Lussier, 2003). Nearly one‐third of college students reported new perspectives, attitudes, and beliefs about race and ethnicity after taking a survey that instructed them to answer questionnaires about racial identity and respond to open‐ended prompts about the ways that their identities shaped their lives (Syed et al, 2011).…”