To make the world their own

Civic learning is a situated endeavor embedded within settings with particular political, historical, economic, and social dimensions. All settings are not created equal, but neither are they one-dimensional in terms of their impact on civic learning. Settings of congruence have the benefit of resources, order, and trust but may seem to lack passion and significance. Settings of disjuncture are troubled by institutional failure, chaos, and mistrust, but civic learning in such contexts has the urgency and meaning that comes from standing directly in the crucible of society’s most pressing civic problems.

  

-Hayes, B; Rubin, B. “No Backpacks” versus “Drugs and Murder”: The Promise and Complexity of Youth Civic Action Research (Fall 2010 Harvard Education Review)

p. 374

Rubin and Hayes make clear the need to have culturally relevant and responsive curriculum that speaks to the social reality in which students find themselves. By examining the differences in civic attitudes and community aspirations, the researchers show that a one size fits all approach to citizenship education will not work. Because some students do not have confidence that the world is structured to serve their needs, they will feel a stronger dissatisfaction with society than their peers. These students are also unlikely to feel that the political structure will yield to their demands; teaching them about the structure of government and transmitting civic knowledge is not enough to inspire or empower these students. These students need to learn both that some civic and political institutions are more approachable than they may seem at first glance and that meaningful change can be made by opposing the status quo. That students in one school identified a mildly restrictive school policy as the element of their environment that most needed change while students in the other school identified major crimes, such as drugs and murder, as their communities most pressing challenge shows that students form their civic identities contextually and that the instructional approach to this development needs to be sensitive to those differences. Not surprisingly, the youth in the class that addressed drugs and murder did not succeed, but they did gain valuable insights into citizenship and also improved their sense of efficacy and attachment by producing a public document.

Though there is no one approach that will work for all students, action civics offers a framework that is flexible enough to be applied in diverse circumstances. In their article, Hayes and Rubin document students taking an action civics approach, but they do not provide specifics that would allow teachers to make use of this idea. At Close Up, we always advocate community mapping, where students identify assets and weaknesses of their community, as a good starting point for a community action initiative. Students are asked to survey their neighborhood, identifying the types of businesses, services (non-profit or government) and residences in a neighborhood. Additionally, they may develop a questionnaire to gather the ideas and beliefs of other community members. Ultimately, this leads to identifying one issue (or a few closely related issues) that student groups will work to address. (Note: Each class could be asked to work as one whole group or students could break into smaller groups around issues of interest.) After issues are identified, some educators, such as Jean Anyon, suggest the use of a technique called power mapping. Power mapping involves identifying where the social, government and economic power lies in a community. Power mapping can begin with some simple questions: “Who are the stakeholders on this issue?” “Who has the power (or authority) to address this concern?” “Are there any stakeholders who would oppose our position?” Depending on the time allotted for this activity, students may end up with a comprehensive flow chart that shows not only which government positions exist and what authority they have (which is typically where civic education ends) but also who has influence over which political official or party. Once students have identified an issue to address and have determined who has power or authority to address this issue, students are then asked to work towards addressing this issue, usually through raising awareness, attending public meetings or meeting with decision-makers.

To learn more about organizations working with an action civics model, check out Generation Citizen (http://www.generationcitizen.org), the University Community Collaborative of Philadelphia (http://www.temple.edu/collaborative/) or the Center for Action Civics (http://www.centerforactioncivics.org), responsible for the very cool Mikva Challenge. Additionally, Meira Levinson’s No Citizen Left Behind (http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674065789) is an excellent resource for anyone considering adopting an action civics model.