What Kind of Citizen? The Politics of Educating for Democracy

Abstract

The notion of democracy occupies a privileged place in our society. Educators and policymakers are increasingly pursuing a variety of programs to promote democracy through civic education, service learning, and other pedagogies. The nature of their underlying beliefs, however, differs. This article underscores the political implications of education for democracy and suggests that the narrow and often ideologically conservative conception of citizenship embedded in many current efforts at teaching for democracy reflects not arbitrary choices but rather political choices with political consequences. Three conceptions of the "good" citizen are treated in this article: personally responsible, participatory, and justice oriented. They emerged from an analysis of both democratic theory and a 2-year study of educational programs aiming to promote democracy. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from two of the programs studied, it is argued that these conceptions embody significantly different beliefs regarding the capacities and commitments citizens need for democracy to flourish, and they carry significantly different implications for pedagogy, curriculum, evaluation, and educational policy. The authors conclude that politics and the interests of varied groups are often deeply embedded in the ways efforts to educate for democracy are conceptualized, implemented, and studied. (Contains 34 references and 3 tables.) (RT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

Diverging Paths: Understanding Racial Differences in Civic Engagement Among White, African American, and Latina/o Adolescents Using Structural Equation Modeling

“…Engaging students in democratic practices may promote civic self-efficacy by providing students with an opportunity to be active players in civic issues. For example, students who organize a community project or challenge a school policy they believe is unjust may feel a sense of accomplishment that they were able to successfully undertake a civic action that helped others (Levinson, 2012;Westheimer & Kahne, 2004). Civic self-efficacy may then lead to increased civic participation later in life.…”

“…The democratic values of a school are often reflected in types of learning that students experience (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004). These experiences might take different forms.…”

Toward Self-Authoring a Civic Teacher Identity: Service-Learning in Teacher Education

“…In their study of teacher education programs, Anderson and Erickson (2003) maintained that effective service-learning provides teachers with decision-making authority regarding the service that they provide, (e.g. deciding the curriculum and methods) in addition to emphasizing problem solving and service to the community -all core components of a participatory citizenship model defined as a shared responsibility to address issues affecting one's local and national community (Kahne, Crow, & Lee, 2013;Westheimer & Kahne, 2004).…”

Social justice representations of students and teachers in Spain

“…Following the ideas of Prillentensky [9], welfare could reach through mutual assistance, cooperation and participation of all people in a fair democracy. -Thirdly, based on Westheimer and Kahne [13] we consider another goal of Social Justice is becoming in Social Justice oriented citizens. They are autonomous, active and critical people with social, political and economic structures that promote inequalities and unfair so they act as change agents.…”