As it has
been stated in this blog: this blog
assumes that civics education has a responsibility to promote civility. While this might be questioned in some
quarters, the position here is that not only do schools, including public
schools, have this responsibility, but that they are not meeting it. This and the following postings will expand
on this position.
By its nature, civility deals with values; i.e., normative
questions. This brings up several areas
of interest: how should the normative
questions of citizenship and civility be handled in American classrooms? Is the whole notion of imparting a view of
civility a legitimate role for civics teachers to play? If so, given any legitimate concern over
indoctrination that Americans might have, what is the best method for
presenting such lessons?
An interesting episode of political theater took place early in
President Obama's presidency. He offered
a “beginning of the school year” message that was to be made available to schools
around the country. A clamor arose. Was this an attempt by the government to
impose a political message on school age children?
Of course, such developments must be judged against the political
climate of a given time. But the
underlying concern was an undue governmental influence on the political and
civic beliefs of its citizens. Despite
the apparent theatrics of this interchange between the President and his
detractors, this concern over government overreaching into domains of personal
life or attempts at indoctrination are real and ongoing concerns.
The
question of whether civility is a legitimate topic for civics education might
be a touchy one for some. When one delves into issues of civility, one roams to
normative questions: what is proper and
improper behavior? Do public schools
have the responsibility to impart “appropriate” values? If so, what are those values and from where
should they originate?
This
whole question of values education deserves a lengthy treatment and this blog
will touch on it again, but here, a general observation is that schools, even
public schools, do have a responsibility to deal with the normative questions
related to civility. They have a role
even if they do not see themselves as having one.[1] Schools take up a large portion of children’s
lives. To suggest that schools will not
have an effect is foolish and to believe that effect should not be responsibly
planned for is a professional dereliction.
Back
in the 1960s, a set of scholars who attempted to influence what was taught in
schools felt that their role was not to totally ignore values questions in the
classroom, but to present them in the form of personal value statements[2]
or of resolving value dilemmas.[3] These approaches garnered a bit of popularity
at the time and many accompanying instructional materials were sold to or for
teachers and students across the country.
Unfortunately,
neither approach met with lasting success.
One apparent reason for the limited tenure as highly regarded
instructional strategies was the overall cultural environment in which they
were issued. As this blog has argued,
the nation was in the throes of institutionalizing a natural rights view of
government and politics. “Do your own
thing” was the prevailing motto of the day and the proposed curricular
offerings did not address this cultural drift.
All
in all, these strategies did not meet with much success and they have
generally, through the years, been abandoned.
What remained was an almost total abandonment
of handling values issues in the classroom, at least in a thoughtful fashion.
This left a vacuum that has been filled by two sources. One has been the all-pervasive media and its
implied values. The other has been the
young people themselves. This latter
source has often played out in the context of a youth culture becoming ever
more pervasive, especially in large urban comprehensive high schools.[4] The result:
a highly narcissistic and self-absorbed youth population.[5]
Are
Americans suffering from undue levels of incivility? Robert D. Putnam,[6]
among others,[7]
found worrisome levels of uncivil behavior among the American public. These scholars are not alone in this finding
or concern. Other sources, both
professional social scientists and popular media reports, echo his
message. Public Agenda, in 2002, reported:
“Most Americans surveyed in a study released today say rudeness is on
the rise in our society and 41 percent admit they too are sometimes a part of
the problem.[8]
Similar
reports date back to the 1990s.[9] But the 1990s or,
for that matter, 2002, has been a long time ago. Are things better today? A 2013 study found: 70 percent of Americans saw incivility as a
national crisis, and on average, Americans encountered social interactions that
they considered uncivil 2.4 times daily; 43 percent expected to experience
incivility within 24 hours, and 50 percent reported ending a friendship due to
uncivil behavior.
Summarizing this research:
“Civility in America continues to erode and
rude behavior is becoming our “new normal,” according to the fourth annual
study on Civility in America: A
Nationwide Survey, conducted by [a] global public relations firm … .”[10]
Then, a few years ago, comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert
staged a rally in Washington D. C. whose main message was a call to restore
civility to this nation’s political discourse.
The rally, described by the New
York Times as “the enormous crowd, which stretched from the Capitol almost
to the Washington Monument”[11] was covered live by
C-Span. In short, the rally hit a
responsive chord. And then there were
the presidential campaigns of 2016 with physical violence becoming part of the
expected occurrences.
To end this account of incivility, here is a telling, contemporary
statistic: 56% of all fatal traffic
accidents involve at least one of the drivers exhibiting aggressive driving –
better known as road rage.[12]
[1] The Academy Awards winner of best picture (awarded
February, 2017 was Moonlight. The film is the story of an inner city,
predominately African-American school in Miami (Liberty City). Some of the scenes depict what goes on in the
public school that the characters attend.
That depiction is accurate and demonstrates what happens when a school
does not take an active role in instilling civic values – what this blog has
called social capital.
[2] Louis E.
Raths, Merrill Harmin, Sidney B. Simon, Values
and Teaching (Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., 1966).
[3] Donald
W. Oliver and James P. Shaver, Teaching
Public Issues in the High School (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966).
[4] Lawrence Steinberg, Adolescence, (New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill, 2008).
[5] Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell, The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement.
[6] Robert D.
Putnam, Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American
community.
[7] Robert N.
Bellah, Richard Madsen,William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and Steven M. Tipton, The Good Society, (New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991).
[8] Public Agenda, Aggravating
Circumstances: A Status Report on Rudeness in America, Public Agenda, 2002,
http://www.publicagenda.org/files/aggravating_circumstances.pdf
.
[9] A review of this literature includes the following:
Concerned Educators Allied for a Safe Environment (CEASE). The Effect of Violence on Children’s Lives (Information Sheet # 10).
New York: Teacher College Press, 2000; Gest, T. and Pope, V. (1996, March 25).
Crime time bomb. U. S. News and World
Report. pp. 28-36; Ellis, B. E. (1996, June/July). Why kids are ruining
America. George. pp. 96-98 & 128;
Newsweek. “The Rap on Rap.” (October
9) (2000): 58-65. This is just a small
sample.
[10] Weber Shandwick, “Civility in America 2013: Incivility Has Reached Crisis Levels,” Newsroom, (2013): http://www.webershandwick.com/news/article/civility-in-america-2013-incivility-has-reached-crisis-levels AND A FOLLOW-UP ARTICLE Weber Shandwick, “Civility in
America 2014: Forecast Bleak but with
Glimmer of Hope for Millennials,” Newsroom,
(2014): https://www.webershandwick.com/news/article/civility-in-america-2014-forecast-bleak-but-with-hope-for-millennials .
[11] Sabrina
Tavernise & Brian Stelter, “At Rally,
Thousands – Billions? - Responded,” New
York Times (New York, NY), October 30, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/us/politics/31rally.html?_r=1&hp .
[12] NBC News, “Road Rage,” NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, July
14, 2016.
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