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, March 18, 2022

DISCIPLINARY CONCERNS OF PAROCHIAL FEDERALISM

 

An advocate of parochial federalism continues his/her presentation[1]

With its review of the subject matter (in terms of its content), this blog begins describing parochial federalism’s position regarding the discipline of American government and civics.  And this segment begins with a question:  What is the state of affairs within the discipline of those subjects that would indicate a legitimate use of parochial federalism as its foundational construct?

In the eighteenth century, politics centered on the establishment of republican government.  James Madison and Alexander Hamilton spoke of a “new science of politics” concerned with the study of how free people can create a constitutional system of government based on popular sovereignty.”[2]

 

Today’s situation – given the polarized landscape that plagues the nation – demands a reconsideration of the forces and concerns associated with the establishment and maintenance of a republic.  Federalism is a theory of government that provides perspective for such a reconsideration.

          For those who follow a traditional/historical approach within the discipline of political science (one that utilizes documents and other written artifacts of past political activity), parochial federalism is a construct that fits their type of research and theorizing (e.g., the works of Daniel Elazar[3] and Donald Lutz[4]).  The professional organization, the Center for the Study of Federalism, conducts and reports on reputable research and teaching projects in the tradition of this construct.[5]

          Parochial federalism, with its historical/cultural basis, gives a more comprehensive view of political activity and behavior in an extended republic than is presently being offered in the typical civics and American government classes (this blog has provided such reviews and will do more, with relevant research, in the future). 

 As opposed to the sterile, neutral fare that characterizes government studies, parochial federalism enquires into the historical foundations of the nation’s political ethos and makes claims as to the current values to which instruction should ascribe.  That value system revolves around good citizenship and social capital that promote a republic commonwealth (akin to how Gordon Wood characterizes the Revolutionary generation which is historically known as those who joined the Whigs or commonwealthmen). 

It takes a more proactive approach in asking and analyzing information regarding justice and the establishment and maintenance of a civil society.  If the concern is to maintain a republic, what conditions must the construct address in order to be legitimate and a viable foundation by which to study government in the nation’s schools? 

Answering this question takes on several dimensions.  Eugene Meehan[6] provides criteria by which social scientists can judge constructs.  While a curriculum developer and/or implementor of curriculum have different concerns from a social scientist, some of Meehan’s concerns can be incorporated in evaluating constructs for the purposes of classroom use.

The following questions suggest themselves from Meehan’s work:

 

     Comprehension: Does the construct explain as many phenomena related to the area of concern as possible?

     Power: Does the construct control the explanatory effort by being valid and complete in its component parts and the relations between and among those parts?

     Precision: Does the construct specifically and precisely treat its concepts, making them clear in their use?

     Consistency or Reliability: Does the construct explain its components and their relations the same way time after time?

     Isomorphism: Does the construct contain a one-to-one correspondence with that portion of reality it is trying to explain?

     Compatibility: Does the construct align with other responsible explanations of the same phenomena?

     Predictability: Does the construct predict conditions associated with the phenomena in question?

     Control: Does the construct imply ways of controlling the phenomena in question?

 

In other words, given the general goal of parochial federalism, how does its view of government and politics match up with the realities of government and serve as a vehicle by which to present reality and the values involved?

          A curriculum, to be viable, must have, as one of its sources, a foundation in reputable subject matter from the relevant discipline.[7]  In addition, this blogger – apart but not necessarily distinct from parochial federalism – adds two more concerns that are in line with the demands of a successful application of a construct for classroom use.  They are:

 

·      Abstraction Level: Is the construct of such abstraction that students will be able to comprehend it?

 

·      Motivation: Is the construct and its content motivating to students?

 

This presentation will present evidence regarding the way the construct, parochial federalism, addresses its disciplinary approach in portraying governance and politics to secondary students.



[1] This presentation begins with the posting, “A Parochial Subject Matter” (March 11, 2022).

[2] Stephen L. Schechter and Jonathan S. Weil, “Studying and Teaching Political Science,” in Teaching the Social Sciences and History in Secondary Schools:  A Method Book, edited by James C. Schott and Laurel R. Singleton (Belmont, CA:  Wadsworth Publishing Company), 138.

[3] For example, Daniel J. Elazar, American Federalism:  A View from the States, Third Edition (New York, NY:  Harper and Row, Publishers, 1984).

[4] For example, Donald S. Lutz, “The Mayflower Compact, 1620” (17-23), “The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 1639” (24-35), “The Declaration of Independence, 1776” (138-145), “The Virginia Declaration of Rights and Constitution, 1776” (150-165), “The Articles of Confederation, 1781” (227-248) in Roots of the Republic: American Founding Documents Interpreted, edited by Stephen L. Schechter (Madison, WI:  Madison House, 1990).

[5] An offshoot of the Center for the Study of Federalism is an academic journal, Publius:  The Journal of Federalism.  This journal is associated with Temple University in Philadelphia.

[6] Eugene J. Meehan, Explanation in Social Science:  A System Paradigm (Homewood, IL:  The Dorsey Press, 1968).

[7] Ralph W. Tyler, Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction (Chicago, IL:  The University of Chicago Press, 1949).

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