Common Citizens From American High Schools
This category of citizen is what most high schools in America set as their goal for their students during and after their time attending.
What is a Personally Responsible Citizen?
Within the social science/history classroom it is my goal to form citizens who are parts of all three categories. It is important to have students who do follow the rules, they do want to make change in their local communities through their participation, and also have the skills to critically think about the deeper social issues that are bringing down the communities around them.
What type of citizen do I want to help form in my classroom?
Instead of listening to this myth, schools should embrace the idea of letting students of different backgrounds with different beliefs civilly come together to discuss and negotiate those differences instead of discrediting them due to being controversial.
What is the myth that politics should be kept out of schools?
School's do not believe they are doing anything wrong as many times they are confusing good behavior and good character. They believe by helping students learn to follow the rules and volunteer on occasion to help the less fortunate that they are doing the world a favor, when in fact they are doing the opposite. Instead, they are creating a world in which students learn to avoid the deeper political issues and focus on more individual gain or success, as explained by Joel Westheimer in chapter 6 of his book, "What Kind of Citizen? Educating Our Children for the Common Good"
What are reasons schools create personally responsible citizens?
Teaching students about the government (local and federal), showing them the proper ways to go about participating within their communities to make a difference, and introducing controversial topics that make them think deeper into the social issues that affect the country each day (such as different opportunities people may get based on their economic status).
What are ways to form students into well rounded individuals?
Instead of listening to this myth, politicians and parents should realize that teaching students to have deeper understanding of how to solve problems does not take away skills in other areas such as math or literacy.
What is the myth that teachers who teach critical thinking disregard the need for basic skills?
Many schools tend to take the easier route when teaching students skills to be a citizen in a democracy due to the fact that it may take less time and resources to do so. For example, it is much easier for a high school to have students bring in a canned food item to do their part for a food drive than it would be for teachers to come together with their curriculum to teach critical thinking skills regarding ending hunger in their community.
What are reasons schools create personally responsible citizens?
Less intense than the program laid out within Madison County explained in chapter 7 of Westheimer's book, students could be taught to make change even in their own schools. Students in a class can agree upon something they believe should be changed at their high school, and then through my teaching they can be taught of the appropriate steps to make that change a reality. They can be encouraged to attend public school board meetings, create petitions, get signatures, and even make posters to put around the school promoting the changes they would like to make.
What are ways to promote participatory citizenship within a high school?
Before agreeing with this myth, parents and politicians need to understand that teachers are professionals who have been trained to use their best judgement to make sure all students learn and understand material, and they do not need uniformity between classrooms to make these decisions for them.
What is the myth that national standards will produce a better education?
Avoiding politics and controversial topics within the school walls has become customary as it keeps the school board and parents happy, but it makes it much more difficult for students to learn how to critically think when they never have to talk about topics that may ruffle some feathers.
Why it is easier for high schools to produce personally responsible citizens?
Having discussions in class about deeper social issues to better form critical thinking skills. For example, I can ask students their thoughts on why many prisoners end up returning to the prison system after being released. After hearing their responses, I can delve into a small lesson about the issues prisoners face upon being released and how in most cases it is not their fault that they revert to their past ways in order to simply survive back in the outside world. From there I can teach the students the issues within the prison system, and how changes need to be made but have not yet come.
What are ways to introduce critical thinking skills on social issues to high school students?
Instead of so quickly believing this myth, schools should understand that just because something the students attempt may be unsuccessful does not mean it will not have a lasting impact on the way they view the idea of making change in their community.
What is the myth that community experiences must be successful?