Attitude
Module 3
What attitudes promote civic engagement? How can we promote safe, just, and harmonious schools through civics education? This module provides ideas about how we can promote attitudes and dispositions that create democratic classrooms and schools. While these dispositions and values do not represent all that are necessary in a functional society, they are a firm foundation in building perspectives and attitudes that facilitate democratic life.
Inquiry
Perhaps one of the most critical aspects of democratic civics is promoting a spirit of inquiry. What is inquiry? Inquiry is a set of interrelated skills that allows people to examine social problems through a critical use of evidence. Consider this scenario. Suppose a special interest group was promoting a ballot initiative to overturn the legality of capital punishment, or the death penalty, in a particular state. How might the engaged citizen respond to this situation? One could simply ignore the issue and choose not to vote, but such a choice demonstrates a cynical, self-absorbed attitude that is not conducive to civic life in a democracy. One could also choose to examine one's own values, morals, and experiences in order to make a judgement on this controversial issue. That's certainly a good start, but insufficient by itself. One could also engage in an extended process of inquiry. Here's a model of inquiry used by the Inquiry project of the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign.
How might one inquire about the death penalty, or capital punishment, using inquiry? While the process is not necessarily linear, here are some steps that demonstrate how inquiry might occur on this issue.
You might use these steps of inquiry to help students engage in the study of controversial issue that interests them.
Discuss
The nature of the cycle of inquiry is that it should be neverending and beginningless. This is not easy for many people to handle to accept because we prefer the certainty of final answers and ultimate solutions. In human society, and particularly on social issues of great significance, conclusive answers are elusive in the best of circumstances. So one might begin an inquiry into capital punishment, or the death penalty, by talking with others about their perspective on the issue. How did they arrive at their conclusions? What are they still confused or perplexed about? What evidence is most compelling? Discussion might also occur by listening to media reports about the death penatly, hearing what people from beyond your circle of associates think about this issue. This process will also allow you to begin to sort out how you think and why you think that way about this issue.
Reflect
What have been my experiences with violent crime? As a victim? How might I feel if a loved one was a victim of violent crime? How might I feel if a loved one was incarcerated under the penalty of death? What situations would warrant such a sentence, if any?
Ask
What is the problem as I understand it? Framing the problem is a crucial aspect of beginning to thoughtfully inquire. Perhaps using a forced choice pro/con t-chart may help organize arguments about capital punishment while allowing you to explore the nature of the problem.
Investigate
Modern life is increasingly complex, with access to more information than ever before possible. This has benefits and costs, as we can learn more about issues in our world than ever before but are confronted with quantities of information (the quality of which should always be scrutinized) that threatens to overwhelm us. Our ability to investigate is challenged by this situation, leading some to search for simple, black/white solution to complex social problems. One who inquires, however, will seek out multiple, conflicting pieces of evidence and develop ways of determining what is valid and to what degree it is valid. There can be no easy formula for this step, as it takes a lifetime of critical enagement with ideas to become skilled at investigation. But the need for an inquiring, engaged citizenry has never been more needed as our society becomes increasingly complex and inundated with information overload, or as Neil Postman calls it, infoglut. If you are not overloaded yet, visit the information overload annotated webography to learn more about this complex phenomenon.
Back to the death penalty, where might one go to begin the process of investigating this public issue? One might explore the resources of groups that support the abolition of the death penalty (Amnesty International) and those who are opposed (see the Pro-Death Penalty Homepage). One might read some of the Supreme Court's rulings related to capital punishment (click here to view those cases). One might also explore the international dimensions of this issue to see what other societies have done and what struggles they continue to have.
Create
We are all compelled to act in the world. Even when we choose not to act, we are in effect acting. When we create, we are making a series of decisions based upon our reflection, the nature of the problem as we see it, and the investigation we have undertaken. Our creation in this scenario is the decision that we make about how to vote on the death penalty ban. Decisions in a democratic society are rarely final and can often be revised, but there are moments in one's life when you are compelled to choose. What do you choose?
This model of inquiry has been successfully used with students. Teaching examples on a range of social issues can be found at the Inquiry Page of the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign.
 |
Time to reflect about the Inquiry process outlined above in your Civics Journal #13! |
What are the most problematic steps of the inquiry process for you? Your students? Why?
How have you used this process, or a similar one, with your students? How did they react? How did you feel as a teacher?
What public issues might you use the inquiry process with? How do you plan to do so?
Civic Engagement
How can you and your students become meaningfully engaged in your community? If civics is going to be more than an academic exercise of learning about key facts, students have to practice being involved in their school and communities.
One way to begin students in the process of becoming active in their community is to learn from what other students have done in the past. The Freedom Forum shows how a group of Connecticut students got involved in their school community on issues of free speech.
Something questions to consider before encouraging student activism:
1. What are my learning goals related to this experience?
2. How can students engage in reasoned inquiry prior to acting and how will I structure the activity so that they can apply their insights from the inquiry?
3. What support do I have among administrators in my school to engage students in public issues, which can become controversial.
A word about teaching students to engage controversial ideas...
Some may say that school is not a place for social activism to begin, that it is an academic environment where students should only be permitted to learn about social issues. If one supports a consumptive idea of civics, where people vote annually and watch current events unfold, that may be a sufficient model of education. If the goal of public education is to develop habits in young people that allow them to thoughtfully inquire and act in the world, then the notion that young people should be shielded from contentious social issues cannot be supported. An important caution for teachers, however, is to avoid whole class project where everyone is advocating the same issue. In order to model open, democratic discourse in your classroom, you need to encourage students to "walk their own path" of social involvement, guided by your facilitation of their inquiry process.
Here are some starting points for student activism that have links to issues in your community:
| Environment | Public Interest Research Group |
| Freedom of Religious Practice | Foundation for Religious Freedom |
| Freedom of Speech | American Civil Liberties Union |
| Affirmative Action | NAACP |
| Right to Bear Arms | National Rifle Association |
Check this out...
Justice Learning is a site dedicated to providing teachers and students with resources for "civic education in the real world. Be sure to visit this site and look at the materials available for informing students about current issues as well as the interactive U.S. Constitution available there.
|
What are your thoughts about engaging your students in social action? Write about this in your Civics Journal #14. |
Teachers who want to get their students involved in extended visits to Washington, D.C. and an opportunity to study government firsthand might be interested in getting involved with the Close Up Foundation. Details about their teacher and student programs are available at this link.
Conflict-Resolution
All societies have conflicts. An important aspect of maintaining a healthy society is having means of resolving disputes peacefully. In the United States, for example, an elaborate judicial system exists that allows people to have their disputes adjudicated. While this is an effective way of promoting justice, it is very costly and time consuming to resolve disputes in this manner.
Think-tanks around the United States and the world have begun to focus on how disputes can be resolved peacefully without adjudication. Conflict-resolution centers have been established for research, teaching, and dissemination of information about this emerging field.
Listen to NPR's report on conflict-resolution in international affairs, with a frank discussion of its possibilities and limitations in promoting peace. On a community level, listen to a report about conflict-resolution in Cincinnati following clashes between the police and African-Americans.
Take a few minutes to visit the Rutgers University's Center for Negotiation and Conflict-Resolution.
Explore the ERIC Lesson Plan website for ideas about how to teach conflict-resolution in K-12 schools.
|
In your Civics Journal #15, consider how you might create lesson plans that will promote conflict-resolution. You might begin by sketching a lesson based upon one that you already teach. |