“It has been recognized since the founding of the nation that education has a civic mission: to prepare informed, rational, humane, and participating citizens committed to the values and principles of American constitutional democracy.”
––preface to the National Standards for Civics and Government
"It cannot be doubted that in the United States the instruction of the people powerfully contributes to the support of the democratic republic."
––Alexis de Tocqueville
Chapter nine of Cantù's book focuses on investigating the goals of civic education and is replete
with yet more websites and links to helpful web material for the modern social studies teacher. The
introduction starts off with this quote from Thomas Jefferson that informs the understanding of social
studies education:
I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people
themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with
a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their
discretion.
Jefferson's ideology runs deep throughout modern American education: people, given the right information and the choice, will ultimately make the right choices and be able to govern themselves. Ergo, the key is teaching.
I do not wholly subscribe to this line of thought. It is not my observation in life, nor in the study of history, that people as a whole are rational creatures. For example, how can one explain the vices to which people are prone such as: drinking, smoking, drugs, and sexual promiscuity to name a few given the known dangers associated with these activities. A person fully motivated by rationale motives would understand that smoking leads to cancer, excessive drinking to cirrhosis, drugs to a multiplicity of problems mentally, socially, and physically, and sexual promiscuity to disease and pregnancy, yet "rational" people continue engage in these practices. I do believe that education is a part of making good decisions, but I do not believe it is the panacea.
Big Question: If education truly is the foundation to a stable democracy, why is it not fully funded and encouraged for all citizens?
In chapter ten of Lies, Loewen writes about the disappearance of the recent past. He describes three divisions of people in African culture: those living, those recently deceased (sasha), and those deceased long ago (zamani). Those more recently deceased, the sasha, he terms the "living-dead". By this he means that a person has died, but they live on in the memory of those still living who remember them personally. Several reasons given for the lack of "living-dead" in modern school textbooks are: lack of courage to write about them while they can be challenged by other people, lack of time in classes to cover older material and newer, and because textbooks are tertiary sources, not enough secondary sources have yet been written.
Last week I was scanning a textbook at Quest Charter Academy and I definitely noticed what Loewen was talking about. The majority of text ended with World War Two, everything from there on grew increasingly terse and hurried. In my opinion, the main reason not much attention is given to most recent history is because frankly, this material is not included in teaching standards or standardized tests. The majority of testing is on older history, or those in the category of zamani, not the sasha.
The biggest take-away from this chapter is the international good-guy image we have of our country. Since we do not delve deeply into studies of the more recent past, we do not understand some of the modern problems we have, and why we are perceived the way we are globally. For example, the majority of students have no understanding of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan in 1979, how we trained and funded and used Osama bin Laden and rebel forces to fight a proxy war with Russia. So, in 2001 when bin Laden bombed the twin towers, most Americans had no idea why, and were left to assume. Instead of being able to understand our mistakes in history, we merely blamed Osama and Muslims for this "rogue" attack. A lesson in sasha history would have gone a long way in understanding 9/11.
Big Question: Given the limited class time and material that needs to be covered, how can recent history be given its proper place in school curricula?
introduction starts off with this quote from Thomas Jefferson that informs the understanding of social
studies education:
I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people
themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with
a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their
discretion.
Jefferson's ideology runs deep throughout modern American education: people, given the right information and the choice, will ultimately make the right choices and be able to govern themselves. Ergo, the key is teaching.
I do not wholly subscribe to this line of thought. It is not my observation in life, nor in the study of history, that people as a whole are rational creatures. For example, how can one explain the vices to which people are prone such as: drinking, smoking, drugs, and sexual promiscuity to name a few given the known dangers associated with these activities. A person fully motivated by rationale motives would understand that smoking leads to cancer, excessive drinking to cirrhosis, drugs to a multiplicity of problems mentally, socially, and physically, and sexual promiscuity to disease and pregnancy, yet "rational" people continue engage in these practices. I do believe that education is a part of making good decisions, but I do not believe it is the panacea.
Big Question: If education truly is the foundation to a stable democracy, why is it not fully funded and encouraged for all citizens?
Source: http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/c0.119.403.403/p403x403/589_452145054823736_827897166_n.jpg
The ideas of the Founding Fathers are steeped in Enlightenment thinking, this site is a good interactive for the Age of Enlightenment.
Reflection:
"We see things not as they are but as we are."
––Anaïs Nin
In chapter ten of Lies, Loewen writes about the disappearance of the recent past. He describes three divisions of people in African culture: those living, those recently deceased (sasha), and those deceased long ago (zamani). Those more recently deceased, the sasha, he terms the "living-dead". By this he means that a person has died, but they live on in the memory of those still living who remember them personally. Several reasons given for the lack of "living-dead" in modern school textbooks are: lack of courage to write about them while they can be challenged by other people, lack of time in classes to cover older material and newer, and because textbooks are tertiary sources, not enough secondary sources have yet been written.
Last week I was scanning a textbook at Quest Charter Academy and I definitely noticed what Loewen was talking about. The majority of text ended with World War Two, everything from there on grew increasingly terse and hurried. In my opinion, the main reason not much attention is given to most recent history is because frankly, this material is not included in teaching standards or standardized tests. The majority of testing is on older history, or those in the category of zamani, not the sasha.
The biggest take-away from this chapter is the international good-guy image we have of our country. Since we do not delve deeply into studies of the more recent past, we do not understand some of the modern problems we have, and why we are perceived the way we are globally. For example, the majority of students have no understanding of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan in 1979, how we trained and funded and used Osama bin Laden and rebel forces to fight a proxy war with Russia. So, in 2001 when bin Laden bombed the twin towers, most Americans had no idea why, and were left to assume. Instead of being able to understand our mistakes in history, we merely blamed Osama and Muslims for this "rogue" attack. A lesson in sasha history would have gone a long way in understanding 9/11.
Big Question: Given the limited class time and material that needs to be covered, how can recent history be given its proper place in school curricula?
Source: http://i.qkme.me/35swzx.jpg
Link: http://www.timeforkids.com/
Time site that has video, articles, and photos for kids to interact with current and recent events.
Time site that has video, articles, and photos for kids to interact with current and recent events.
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