Civic Education

Since the occurrence of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the importance of cultivating Americans who possess a strong knowledge and commitment to the political and civic life of their country has become increasingly significant (Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement [CIRCLE] & Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY), 2003). Nonetheless, the current provision of civic education has failed to stem the continuous disinterest of young people in political issues and voting, even as their participation in volunteer and charitable activities has increased (CIRCLE & CCNY, 2003; Haynes & Chaltain, 2004; Macedo & Finn, 2004).

Ideally, school-based civic education needs to be effective in developing the "civic knowledge," "civic skills" and "civic virtues" of students (Murphy, 2003, p. 70). Civic knowledge involves the understanding of the concepts of the fundamental political processes and structures of democratic politics and the nature of citizenship. Individuals demonstrate civil skills when they apply their civic knowledge in order to achieve political goals; essentially, they participate in activities that are designed to elicit desired political outcomes. Finally, civic virtues are encapsulated in the individuals' internal values of respect and concern for the country and the public (Murphy, 2003).

In the remainder of this paper, the findings of the report entitled The Civic Mission of Schools produced by CIRCLE an

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types of democratic processes including town meetings, legislative and administrative hearings can make civic education exciting for the students (Quigley, 1999). Factors Undermining School-Based Civic Education Along with providing strategies for improving school-based civic education, CIRCLE and CCNY (2003) also identified various factors that have undermined educators' ability to implement school-based civic education effectively. These issues are also discussed to a great extent in the literature. In fact, many of these scholars provided alternative perspectives and ideas for overcoming these barriers to school-based civic education. Fear of Controversy and Conflicts As CIRCLE and CCNY (2003) pointed out, educators often refrain from discussing topics that are politically controversial for fear or litigation or conflicts. This concern was also mentioned by many scholars in the literature review. According to Macedo and Finn (2004), one of the barriers of civic education is that Americans from diverse cultures often possess conflicting perspectives about the desirable values and practices that should be taught in civic education. Many parents do not want teacher to impose values on their children, which deviate fro

Category: Psychology - C