A Crucial Element of Democracy

This is a blog by Robert Gutierrez ...
While often taken for granted, civics education plays a crucial role in a democracy like ours. This Blog is dedicated to enticing its readers into taking an active role in the formulation of the civics curriculum found in their local schools. In order to do this, the Blog is offering a newer way to look at civics education, a newer construct - liberated federalism or federation theory. Daniel Elazar defines federalism as "the mode of political organization that unites separate polities within an overarching political system by distributing power among general and constituent governments in a manner designed to protect the existence and authority of both." It depends on its citizens acting in certain ways which Elazar calls federalism's processes. Federation theory, as applied to civics curriculum, has a set of aims. They are:
*Teach a view of government as a supra federated institution of society in which collective interests of the commonwealth are protected and advanced.
*Teach the philosophical basis of government's role as guardian of the grand partnership of citizens at both levels of individuals and associations of political and social intercourse.
*Convey the need of government to engender levels of support promoting a general sense of obligation and duty toward agreed upon goals and processes aimed at advancing the common betterment.
*Establish and justify a political morality which includes a process to assess whether that morality meets the needs of changing times while holding true to federalist values.
*Emphasize the integrity of the individual both in terms of liberty and equity in which each citizen is a member of a compacted arrangement and whose role is legally, politically, and socially congruent with the spirit of the Bill of Rights.
*Find a balance between a respect for national expertise and an encouragement of local, unsophisticated participation in policy decision-making and implementation.
Your input, as to the content of this Blog, is encouraged through this Blog directly or the Blog's email address: gravitascivics@gmail.com .
NOTE: This blog has led to the publication of a book. The title of that book is TOWARD A FEDERATED NATION: IMPLEMENTING NATIONAL CIVICS STANDARDS and it is available through Amazon in both ebook and paperback versions.

Friday, September 11, 2015

KNOWING ENOUGH?

Let me begin this posting with an acknowledgement that today marks the fourteenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.  We shall never forget the sacrifice of so many Americans who lost their lives on that sorrowful day.  May the families of those victims take comfort in the knowledge that this nation commemorates that sacrifice.

Back in November 10, 2010, I wrote a posting that combined concerns over a lack of both political knowledge and social capital.  I made the point that while I had, to that point in this blog, reported on low levels of political knowledge among American students, there was research that favorably compared the knowledge of American kids to that of youngsters in other countries.  I also made the assertion that there is a link between political participation and political knowledge; that is, there is an obvious educational result from people gaining the experience of actual political work.  In trying to update information I used in those early postings, I do have one more recent study, but before relating it, let me point out that gauging how knowledgeable US students are or how knowledgeable their adult counterparts are is dicey at best.  One can give knowledge tests, but you might shortchange what political knowledge a person tested has by “missing” that knowledge in the questions one asks.  So, in this update – of sorts – let me just qualify what I am reporting by making this point:  any generalization over what Americans know or do not know is speculative, at best.  What often goes unreported are the types of knowledge that stem from more day to day experiences; the type of knowledge obtained on the streets.

The only meaningful study I can add to the earlier reporting is one conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2014.[1]  They found the following:
(Paraphrasing the questions, the percent of respondents getting the questions correct, and the correct answer)
·        What is the federal minimal wage?  73% of respondents got it correct.  The right answer:  $7.25.
·        In what nation does ISIS control territory?  67% of respondents got it correct.  The right answer (in 2014):  Syria.
·        Ukraine was a part of what political entity?  60% of respondents got it correct.  The right answer:  USSR.
·        What is Common Core?  49% of respondents got it correct.  The right answer:  national educational standards.
·        What is the source of North Dakota’s economic boom?  46% of respondents got it correct.  The right answer:  oil.
·        In what country is there an outbreak of Ebola?  46% of respondents got it correct.  The right answer:  Liberia.
·        What is the name of Israel’s prime minister?  38% of respondents got it correct.  The right answer:  Netanyahu.
·        What is the current unemployment rate?  33% of respondents got it correct.  The right answer (in 2014):  circa 6%.
·        In which country do Shiites outnumber Sunnis?  29% of respondents got it correct.  The right answer:  Iran.
·        Who is the chairperson of the Federal Reserve (FED)?  24% of respondents got it correct.  The right answer:  Yellen.
·        In which budget line item does the federal government spend most funds?  20% of respondents got it correct.  The right answer:  Social Security.
·        What portion of the US population is below the poverty line?  20% of respondents got it correct.  The right answer:  15%.
Is this a good or not so good level of political knowledge?  Are the questions reflective of useful political knowledge or are they random concerns that a person engaged or interested in politics and government might know or not know?  These are useful questions about which I can only speculate.  I do know that the state of our politics today and how general political issues are discussed and argued about, at least in how the media portray that process, give one concern.  When you have a candidate for president who is leading in the polls and is accused by other candidates as being a non-serious candidate, questions of how knowledgeable the general public is pop up.  The above numbers are interesting.  Distressful are the results on the questions concerning the unemployment rate, FED chairperson, government spending, and poverty line.  These questions reflect how well our nation is doing.  One would suppose that such questions would have higher correct rates in a nation where it was common to be involved in the political environment of the day.  I believe that these numbers reflect poorly on not just how we as a people are involved, but on the educational efforts in civics and government to promote that involvement.

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