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When considering the
role civics education plays in society, one must consider the context in which
that role is played. While this contextual
relationship might be observed in any nation, the fact that the American
political culture has taken a natural rights view as its dominant perspective,
the political culture has influenced how civics is seen and how it is taught in
a particular way.
The
effect of the natural rights view makes itself felt both directly in the
content of civics’ subject matter and indirectly in that subject matter’s main
source of content – that being political science. That is, since the 1950s, that academic
discipline has reflected this shift by its adoption of the political systems model
and its utilization of behavioral, “scientific” methodologies.[1] These changes have seriously encouraged
civics to present to secondary students a highly structural and procedural image
of American governance. This posting
describes how that has happened.
An overall reason for this turn in
political science and civics education reflects the admired advancements
in the natural sciences. And those
advancements seemed to culminate with the space program that affected the
imaginations of many Americans. Their
imaginations were bolstered by the dual effects of pride over US’ accomplishments,
but also by fear, given the early successes by the country’s main foe, the
Soviet Union.
With
the launching of Sputnik, the political leaders of the US were determined to catch
up to the Soviet’s early lead in space exploration. Beginning in the fifties, they funded various
initiatives among a number of institutions in American life including education. And that commitment proved to have a profound
effect not only on science and math education, but also on social studies as
well.
With this concern, the national social
studies establishment attempted to promote the “New Social Studies” which called
for the utilization of science protocols to instructional strategies – even to
the study of history. While these
instructional coaxing proved for the most part to be unsuccessful, the content
of social studies subject matter did experience a move toward presenting objectified-based
content while shying away from normative issues. The new focus became “what is” or “what was”
instead of “what should be” or “what should have been.”
This
change is in line with the natural rights’ belief that normative decisions belong
to the individual and efforts, especially by a governmental entity – such as public
schools – should keep an arm’s length distance from such issues. This reminds the writer of the relatively
unintrusive message the Obama Administration promoted for good dietary
practices it issued to the nation’s school systems in 2010 and the reaction
that message caused. The Administration
was in that instance accused of conducting an indoctrinating effort.
It
seems that in the eyes of that President’s detractors, promoting good eating
habits – to a nation that is experiencing serious levels of obesity among young
people – crosses a line between what is legitimate, objective educational presentations,
and what is illegitimate, normative or value-based presentations.
Civics
is charged with teaching students the knowledge and skills they need to be effective
citizens in a democracy. What “effectiveness”
means seems to be the point of contention.
Natural rights advocates limit its meaning to the structural/procedural
aspects to what citizens need to know to fulfill the basic function of citizenship.
That
would include being knowledgeable about the “popular” issues of the day (the
ones drawing the most attention) and how a citizen performs basic expectations
– such as voting and paying taxes. Yes,
there is the aim that students at least at this point in their lives be exposed
to the various structural elements of the political system (both those in and
out of government). That effort is a
rundown of the system’s groups, departments, agencies, and of the major
processes (such as the formulation of laws) that the system conducts.
What
is avoided is any discussion about how those activities should be conducted
even if a potential topic or issue can be defined as harming or potentially
harming the health of the polity such as in the above example of obesity. This limited concern – not limited material,
the typical civics textbook is an amply-sized book – leaves controversies
behind.
And
then there is the question of what should be asked of students when they are
presented the information their civics courses contain. Whether a civics teacher uses a didactic mode
of instruction – one that basically dispenses information – or inquiry – one
that poses questions or problems for students to answer or solve – for a
student to be an effective citizen, the student needs to reflect on the
material presented or discovered. Short
of that, whatever information is dispensed tends to be quickly forgotten.[2]
It
turns out, forgetting “stuff” is what people tend to do. Research seems to indicate that the mental exercise of
encoding[3]
– a necessary mental prerequisite – leads people to remember information. The process of solving problems or seeking
moral justifications or condemnations naturally depends on the mind encoding
relevant information. By calling for
such mental manipulations, inquiry instructional strategies naturally lead to
encoding as information is conceptualized and then compartmentalized in one’s
thinking.
Purely didactic teaching, on the
other hand, does not in itself provide an exercise that demands active encoding
while the instruction takes place. Students usually are expected to take notes
and, at some future time, review them and commit them to memory. What encoding takes place is incidental to
that process while inquiry sessions demand simultaneous encoding while any
instruction or related investigating takes place.
So, even if a teacher primarily
dispenses information, to increase the likelihood that information is
remembered, much less make it meaningful, that teacher needs to find ways to
have those students encode the information they are given.
For example, a didactic lesson can
begin by the teacher presenting the students with an “essay” question answerable
by implementing the subsequent information the teacher presents. This would not only introduce the lesson, but
help students begin thinking of why the presented information is important according
to a concern reflected in the initial question.
And this brings one to the cultural
relationships entailed in civics between its main source of information and its
efforts to prepare students to be effective citizens. That is, there is a reinforcing relationship
between political science and how civics is practiced in American schools. The next posting will take a look at that relationship
and how it affects the quality of that instruction in American secondary
schools.
[1] One can find an “appendix” chapter describing and explaining this
development online; see https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSjZxpifP42VVnhFduKujgUDPJMddmcsh1uRY9DvpNicdYUONOHx56r1jRg4lgxK3ckaiQMJc4Gno0J/pub .
[2] See Kendra Cherry, “4 Explanations for Why We
Forget,” Very Well Mind, n.d., accessed October 25, 2020, https://www.verywellmind.com/explanations-for-forgetting-2795045 , for a description on the importance of encoding in
remembering information.
[3] Encoding means that a mind formulates information in
a form it can translate and consequently process. Even at this basic level, the mind must direct toward the stimulus in question some basic reflection and, of course, the more the
information is reflected upon the more firmly it is encoded. See “Encoding,” AlleyDog.com, n.d.,
accessed October 26, 2020, https://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Encoding#:~:text=The%20process%20of%20breaking%20the,and%20later%20retrieval%20is%20encoding.
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