Engagement Tools
AED Scenario (May 2009)
Title: Building the Case for Civic Engagement:
Why Schooling for Democracy?
Author: Cori Mantle-Bromley, Washington State University
The topic of the morning’s radio talk show was mortgages: Who is targeted for subprime (higher interest) mortgages? Why are some population groups up to six times more likely to have higher interest rate mortgages when their incomes are similar to other population groups who receive more favorable interest rates? Who, historically, has been targeted for “contracts” (with many fewer consumer protections) instead of mortgages? The commentators ended up talking about the complex knowledge and skills necessary for home ownership—understanding one’s rights, for example, or analyzing options and the impact of accepting one source of financing over another.
The talk show raised two issues that those of us associated with the National Network for Educational Renewal or NNER discuss regularly: First, how do we support schools as those places where our youths understand the importance of life-long learning, and second, how do we ensure that high school graduates are prepared to become engaged citizens of our ever-changing and increasingly complex democracy?
The radio discussion easily illustrated the need for all of us to be life-long learners. No one graduates from high school with all the knowledge necessary to succeed in life. Most eighth-graders (or seniors for that matter) will not be very motivated to learn about mortgages and financing, but their parents need this knowledge. Most students will not be highly motivated to understand how a rezoning proposal, for example, will change their lives. As parents, however, they will need to figure out the impact of zoning proposals and many other issues as they strive to create safe environments for their families. Beyond mastery of basic skills, students clearly need to learn how to learn—independent of schools and teachers. Few people would dispute this claim.
The second issue—that of preparing students to become engaged citizens—is perhaps less apparent from the short scenario above. Right now, spring 2009, our nation is in the throes of an economic crisis. Past mortgage practices, including who received mortgages and under what conditions, is one of many factors that led to this crisis. We should understand that while we are not all responsible for the creation of the economic crisis, we do all share responsibility for its resolution. One contribution to this mess included lending policies and laws. Resolution will require that different policies and restrictions are put in place. If we are to emerge from this recession, and we will, we as a nation will need to make changes on the political front (using democratic processes to change policies, regulations, etc.) while we simultaneously make individual and group adjustments on a social level. How will neighborhood schools get by with less? How will we treat the family next door that has no income? Will we volunteer more with the various human services organizations that have lost much of their funding?
In order to move forward as a nation, we need well-informed citizens who take seriously their participation in political decisions, both local and national, as well as their engagement on the very social and human level with fellow citizens—assuming responsibility for interacting with others in ways that promote democratic values such as respect for others, equal rights, humane treatment under the law.
Those associated with the NNER strongly believe that schools must prepare our youths for life-long learning. Schools must also prepare students for both the democracy we currently have and the possible democratic future we can build together. How do we arrive at this strongly held belief that schools must prepare our youths for democracy?
The argument goes something like this: our nation is built upon and values democracy and the democratic pillar of self-governance. We choose our leaders; we approve new taxes; we determine the laws that govern our society. We admit that a democracy that benefits the whole of society rather than privileging some at the exclusion of others is an elusive goal—never fully achieved. We also posit that democratic ideals are always within our possible future. A democracy that aims to benefit the whole has a primary requirement—that everyone have access to the knowledge and skills that lead to the ability to understand complex issues and to participate in the myriad of decision making processes. In order to ensure that everyone has this access to knowledge and skills, we must have common schools—places where all children are provided an education that prepares them to engage in democratic practices. This purpose of schooling—educating for responsible citizenship—cannot be assumed to occur naturally in our schools. Rather, it must be intentionally incorporated into schools’ goals, curricula, and outcomes. If not, where else will future citizens get this kind of education? Can we afford to leave it to chance?
This claim is not new and much has been written elsewhere to support it. Our purpose here is to introduce to those new to our ideas several key concepts that drive our work, as well as several critical resources for those who would like to know more. We draw heavily on a book titled Education for Everyone: Agenda for Education in a Democracy (see resources section), as it has pulled together hundreds of resources that support the iterative claim that a healthy democracy requires healthy public schools that educate purposefully for that healthy, ever-improving democracy.
We are not unique in our pursuit of schools that support democratic engagement. We are, however, part of the largest single initiative we know of that works toward this public purpose of schools. The National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER) was formed in 1986 by John Goodlad and his colleagues. Participation in this network requires that public school and university personnel work together to simultaneously improve both schooling and the preparation of new teachers as both groups work toward excellent schools that promote the public purpose of schooling for democracy. While the multiple members of the NNER agree to a common agenda for their work, we take very different routes to moving this agenda forward. Various members and supporters of the NNER advance a four-part mission that we summarize below:
- Enculturating the young into a social and political democracy. This public purpose of schooling suggests that increasingly complex skills and knowledge are taught, modeled, and expected as students complete their K-12 education. High school graduates need to know their rights and processes for making change; they need to know how to learn about issues, how to critique and analyze them for impact, and how to talk to others about their understandings. They also need to know how to be fair and reasonable neighbors, how to take into account the common good, and how to balance their private interests with the public good.
- Providing access to knowledge for all children and youths. In order for the first part of the mission to be realized, all children must have access to multiple forms of knowledge, regardless of primary language spoken, race, ethnicity, gender, or ability. Urban children need access to art and music; rural children need access to high levels of math and science. There is no excuse for limiting the disciplinary knowledge children engage in because of their parents’ incomes, their geographic location, or their perceived future goals. Well-informed students will result in well-informed citizens and neighbors.
- Practicing pedagogical nurturing. Those who teach well know that teaching is not just about knowing one’s subject. Children learn when their teachers understand them, care about their success, and hold them to high standards. Good teaching requires content knowledge as well as pedagogy (teaching) that takes the individual learner and his needs into account. Successful teachers nurture their learners’ successes.
- Ensuring responsible stewardship of schools. Educators at all levels, including community members and parents, must accept responsibility for the well-being of our schools. It is not enough for any of us to care only about single classrooms, as important as they are. We must also care about—be stewards of—the school and the larger community. We all do this to some extent by accepting the tax burden of paying for our schools. We could do much more: Participation as mentors, tutors, volunteers, board members, etc., helps strengthen our schools and the future contributions the schools’ children will make to our society.
We can and regularly do make the argument that our public schools need to teach for democratic engagement. Many teachers, administrators, teacher educators, parents, community members, and legislators agree that a critical purpose of schools is indeed this public purpose—preparation for citizenship. Exclusion of this critical purpose of our schools narrows our possibilities as a democratic people.
Teaching democratic engagement is, however, not enough. We must also model democratic practices in the governance of our schools. Far too often, decisions are made that reflect self- or special interests. Processes often lack transparency. Engagement in school governance often requires insider knowledge. Our nation’s youths learn far more from our practices than from our teaching. And when our actions contradict the ideals we teach, cynicism increases.
Our hope in creating this website is to provide tools that you can use to increase democratic engagement in your classroom, your school, or your community. Everything we provide here is intended to be changed to meet your needs in your context. We provide scenarios that can be used “as is” or adapted for your purposes. We provide links to websites we view as helpful and supportive of our goals. We collect examples and models to further our own and others’ understandings of democracy and democratic engagement in schooling.
Resources
Chrislip, D.D. (2002). The collaborative leadership fieldbook: A guide for citizens and civic leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. This invaluable fieldbook provides tools for collaboration toward the goal of an inclusive, democratic society.
Goodlad, J.I.; Mantle-Bromley, C.; & Goodlad, S.J. (2004). Education for Everyone: Agenda for education in a democracy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. This short and easily accessible book provides a rationale and history for ensuring that the public purpose of schooling is part of our schooling narrative.
Postman, N. (1996). The end of education: Redefining the value of school. New York: Vintage. An analysis of American schools that implores the teaching of democratic skills and values.
Soder, R.; Goodlad, J.I.; & McMannon, T.J. (Eds.) (2001). Developing democratic character in the young. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. A collection of essays that contributes to our understanding of and for schooling for democracy.