“WE GET LETTERS”

I want to look more closely at those elements of content in the Magruder’s American Government textbook that I judged to address social capital.  Social capital is a societal quality characterized by having an active, public-spirited citizenry, egalitarian political relations, and a social environment of trust and cooperation.[1]  A civics curriculum (and that includes government classes) which is guided by the federalist theory in its content choices should strive to support, promote, and enable social capital generally, but specifically among high school students.  In my last posting, I made the claim that one content topic that a federalist theory-minded course should include is material regarding community development.  On that score, Magruder’s falls short.  I did mention that one potentially saving element in the text is sporadic inserts that, if treated appropriately, could support social capital.  I indicated that with this posting I would begin to take a closer look.  I want to begin with the insert topic of “Writing a Letter to the Editor.”  The institutionalized practice of local newspapers to dedicate space, usually on their editorial pages, to letters from their readership is a way to encourage and promote average citizens to voice their opinions, knowledge, and beliefs about current public issues.  It promotes active, public-spirited citizenry.

So, how does Magruder’s treat this topic?  My concern here is to detect a bias toward a communal orientation versus a self-interest orientation.  The insert begins with a sample letter to an editor. Let me reproduce the letter here:

Editor:

Regarding the article on additional budget cuts to public education (“Government Proposes Slashing School Funding,” May 9), I believe that every penny spent is a necessary investment in the future of this community.  As a junior at Westfield High School, I know that these cuts would place students’ futures in greater jeopardy.  Last year 15 percent of the teaching staff and 10 percent of all elective courses were eliminated due to severe reductions in funding.  These cuts ultimately impacted the quality of our education, and that is a sacrifice this town should not be willing to make again.

-Thomas Grey, St. Clairsville[2]

This letter couldn’t be a better example of lobbying.  Take a public policy that negatively affects your interests, manipulate the pitch so as to provide a general welfare angle, and use language that denotes a concern for the community.  Interesting, I think, is the fact that textbook funds come out of the same pot of money as those affecting the budget cuts referred to in the letter.  Couldn’t another example be thought of?  Anyway, I believe this example to be well within the guidance of the natural rights construct – a construct that promotes self-interest.

And here, following this sample letter, is the introduction:  when writing a letter to the editor choose a topic that affects you and your community.  The rest of the insert lists steps you should take in writing your letter:  briefly summarize the issue, explain your position, make a suggestion, and identify yourself.  Given this advice, there would never be letters from middle class citizens about the plight of the poor or what we should do about undocumented citizens or the space program.  These issues are too far removed from a typical individual or community.  In short, in terms of writing to the editor, I believe Magruder’s is far less than a promoter of community development and basically presents the topic as just another way to help students get what individually advances their self-interests.

Note:  Since the inception of this blog, my postings have been on Mondays and Fridays.  Starting with my next postings, due to other activities, my posting days will be Tuesdays and Fridays.

---

[1] Putnam, Robert D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[2] McClenaghan, W. A.  (2013).  Magruder’s American Government (Florida Teacher’s Edition).  Boston, MA:  Prentice Hall/Pearson, p. 631.

MAGRUDER ON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

If you have been following this blog over the last two postings, you know I am reviewing the senior high school textbook, Magruder’s American Government.[1]  The purpose is to see how much the content of the book enables or encourages those attitudes and skills supportive of social capital.  The term social capital I derive from Robert Putnam’s writings.  He uses the term to mean a societal quality characterized by having an active, public-spirited citizenry, egalitarian political relations, and a social environment of trust and cooperation.[2]  In the last posting, I shared the textbook’s table of contents.  From that listing, we can judge the book to be heavy on conveying the structure of the central government, who and what  influences Washington – factions, political parties, etc. – and how influence upon that government takes place.  From the table of contents, we did not denote any emphasis on how individuals or local groups can be successful or viable to any degree in bolstering communal interests.  But this only begs a closer look.  I therefore will begin with this posting looking at whether the text in its finer points addresses these more public-spirited topics.

I will look at whether the book has anything to say about communities, community development, neighborhoods, charities, or non-profit organizations.  I feel that these are the types of topics one would associate with social capital.  Using the index of the book, this is what I found.  There is no listing for community(ies), community development, neighborhood(s), or charity(ies).  There is no listing for non-profit organization(s), but there is one for non-governmental organizations (NGOs).  When I looked up NGOs, the text mentions that the United Nations works with NGOs in administrating a number of its programs around the world.  While commendable, this type of information is not what bolsters social capital among your average high school student population.  In short, in terms of community, Magruder’s has little to nothing to say.

But what the text does have are inserts sporadically placed throughout the book which are entitled Citizenship 101.  Each insert is dedicated to a different topic; they are:  debates, evaluating leadership, juries, letters to the editor, political campaigns, political roots and attitudes, polls, television news programs, using the internet, volunteering, and writing to public officials.  Each insert takes up about half a page (the entry might take up the entire page, but a lot of the space is taken up with a photo or words, leaving a good deal of empty space).  Given the font size and spacing of its usual text material, the information in these inserts would take up a good deal less than half a page if it were presented as part of the usual text.  The format is the same for all of them.  It begins with a quote, then an introduction to the topic, a list of things to do in order to perform some action in relation to the topic follows.  For example, the list for evaluating leadership has three steps:  “decide what factors are most important to you;” “match the skills to the job;” “compare their qualifications.”  For each step, there is a short “how to” explanation to help the student accomplish the step.  I am disappointed that these entries are given such small emphasis, but some of the topics I do believe are related to social capital.  They are:  letters to the editor, political campaigns, political roots and attitudes, volunteering, voting, and writing to public officials.

Is the treatment of these topics really written in such a way as to bolster or enable social capital – a federalist theory aim – or are they written to promote self-interest agendas as those would be more in line with a natural rights perspective?  My next posting begins to take a closer look at the six topics I have highlighted.  Before I do this let me point out that no matter what we find, these entries are a very small part of this book.  That by itself conveys the notion that what is contained is not that important.

---

[1]McClenaghan, W. A.  (2013).  Magruder’s American Government (Florida Teacher’s Edition).  Boston, MA:  Prentice Hall/Pearson.

[2] Putnam, Robert D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.