Since the 1940s research has suggested that higher education has a liberalizing influence on sociopolitical orientation, although none has demonstrated how this might occur. In the U.S. there is an increasing trend among conservative politicians and media to depreciate the value of a college education, by alleging that college turns people into…

What is democracy? We asked this of our pre-service teachers but, instead of soliciting a response via more traditional methods, we assigned them a collage and artist's statement. The overarching goal was to model curricular applications of art that they may carry into their own p-6 classrooms to enable engagement with complex concepts. In…

This phenomenological research examines democracy education and the conditions contributing to young students' democratic agency. The dataset includes interview and observation data from a school and educational decision-makers. The findings from the iterative analysis highlight the contradictions between democracy education as an ideal and…

The time frame of this article covers the Portuguese transition to democracy in the 1970s until the 1990s, when democratic institutions operated fully. The focus lies on the way in which changes in the conceptualization of nature and society and their mutual relationship were reflected in secondary education textbooks. We explore whether and how…

The current study aims to investigate whether pre-service teachers' tolerance tendencies and democratic tendencies vary significantly depending on gender and mother and father's education level and the relationship between their tolerance tendencies and democratic tendencies. A total of 417 second-year students from the departments of Turkish…

Using a mixed-methods approach, this paper investigates current views within society about what civic knowledge is important for students leaving secondary education. We combined questionnaire data from a representative national sample with data from a multiple-case study among several focus groups of stakeholders with various roles in society.…

This article analyzes the origins of generalized trust in Finnish society and how this relates to trust in education. The study was based on a historical analysis of the role of education in building a Finnish society and nation state. The author discusses the development of a Nordic welfare state and analyzes the relationships between generalized…

The purpose of this study was to identify patterns of Taiwanese students' perceptions of good citizenship in terms of citizenship behaviours rooted in Western democracy and character and moral (CM) oriented citizenship. Data from Taiwanese eighth graders participating in the 2016 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) were…

In this study, we aimed to understand the role of place in how young people come to understand civic life. We implemented and studied an action civics curriculum at two sites to explore the connections between place and youth civic identity. We found that (1) place informs students' conceptualizations of community responsibility and collective…

When we "learn nature," do we encounter her as 'free' in the sense of having neither cost nor price? Is she something 'given'? And is that which nature offers us 'gratis'? In the UK, many schoolchildren have been encouraged to 'give thanks' for nature's gifts. But why, if she is free, give thanks; and thanks to whom? If one learns to…

This study addresses common assumptions about women of the borderlands while embracing a transformative consciousness in understanding, making, and reclaiming the meaning of citizenship for Mexican American women from the Rio Grande Valley. This critical ethnography recognizes Chicana Feminist epistemologies as a form of knowledge. Therefore, this…

Current ideas of what makes a school "good" are rooted in past anxieties about America's place in the global economy, argue Jon Valant. These anxieties have led to the prioritization of knowledge and skills needed for workforce success, with little attention to what is needed to build a cohesive society and stable democracy. Valant…

In response to van Waarden's paper, which denied the possibility of horizontal tolerance between citizens, I argue that tolerance is both possible and often desirable between citizens. I also argue that a more substantive set of constraints are required for justice to be served than mere deference to whatever existing constitutions and laws happen…

The term post-truth refers to a condition in which facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal beliefs. The modern media landscape has created opportunities for various forms of fake news to proliferate at unprecedented rates. Consequently, many elements of democracy and its institutions are being…

The rise of various conspiracy theories has left many Americans worried and wondering about the future of democracy. Education has been singled out as part of the solution. Linking Dewey's conception of the purpose of education as growth, the happiness of "eudaimonia," to "pursuit of happiness" as a human right, the author…