This blog, in a series of postings, continues describing
and justifying the adoption of a consumer government approach to secondary
civics courses.[1] It is proposed as a mid-way step from the structural/national
perspective that those courses currently feature to a federalist approach this
blog promotes. That latter approach most
generally sees the aim of civics education to encourage a sense of US citizenry
as being a partnership where each citizen enjoys rights (as defined by the federalist
construct) but has duties and obligations that true partners would respect.
This
proposed course, due to its emphasis on student needs, must define its own
structure of the subject matter. In that
vein, it has students dealing with problem situations which allows students to
develop appropriate skills and knowledge reflected in the course’s aims. To develop such a course, one must have
students engage in enough problem situations of varied types and have them deal
with different levels of government – though such a course would centrally situate
the role of local government. But in the
end, the course needs to be sufficiently comprehensive.
The
problem of conceptualizing such a varied subject matter and yet presenting a
subject adequately cohesively is that it moves curriculum planning into two
different directions. Here is this
blogger’s thought regarding this diversion; this proposed course is
conceptualized in the following manner:
A.
The first concern is to introduce the student
to a brief overview of the structure of government at the federal, state, and
local levels. This course of study will
provide a foundation of what government is.
As opposed to the typical government course, though, this presentation
only conveys major functions and processes of the prominent governmental structures.
B.
Second, the course then proceeds to take the
individual students through a series of problem areas beginning with the
self/home environment and working up to the international stage. These environments are the settings in which
government-related problems manifest themselves.
With these settings accounted for one
identifies, in general terms, the landscapes the course addresses.
At each environmental level, the question can be asked: when dealing at this level, what personal relationships
or relations with social institutions (family, education, economy, social
class, or government) generate the necessity or the motivation to deal with
government? This process produces, in
typical lives, a list of problem areas (e.g., taxes, marital responsibilities,
parental issues, income concerns, etc.).
This list, in turn, serves as the main lesson topics of the subject
matter and with that, one has what the next posting will address.
[1] The last posting, “Aims
for Consumer Government Course” (March 26, 2024), suggested a list of aims for
such a course. They are:
1. To prepare students for normal, social adult life.
2. To prepare students to identify, protect, and advance their
legitimate self-interests.
3. To prepare students to recognize their social and legal
responsibilities.
4. By the end of their formal education, to develop:
a. Cognitive skill knowledge that allows them to interact with
government agencies in such a way as to generally protect and/or advance their
self-interests,
b. Cognitive skills that allow them to interact in a rational
fashion,
c. Cognitive knowledge of the responsibilities society
legitimately expects them to meet, and
d. Willingness to engage in public discussion that relates to
the issues inherent with controversial decision areas where government-citizen
interactions are concerned, and moral values are considered.
