Reviews constitutional history and principles, highlighting our federal republic's dual sovereignties, American citizenry as "ruling class," schooling for citizenship, the original Constitution's defects, and projects to amend the Constitution and approach the democratic ideal. Advises against a second constitutional convention because…

Describes the "Educating for Citizenship" program, comprising curriculum materials based on the real-life experiences of 6-to-10-year-olds. Designed to alert youngsters to citizenship rights and responsibilities and to provide opportunities to practice citizenship skills, the program succeeds because it promotes civic participation and democratic…

Like other institutions, schools are occupied by people whose duties and liberties are in conflict. Understanding the Bill of Rights can help resolve school problems as well as major social problems outside the court system. Students should value the first eight constitutional amendments as not tied to majority rule and should study them…

Discusses a student discipline problem involving a substitute teacher and a student who used foul language in class. The teacher responded with a firm, but venomous, threat that provoked a response from the vice principal's office, but not from the boy's parents. Advocates on-the-spot ethical instruction to maintain credibility and an effective…

Contemplating the root of the word "idiocy" leads the author to explore the challenge that democratic societies face of developing public-minded citizens. The schools, he argues, are the most likely institutions to succeed in that task. Schools in societies that are trying in various ways to be democracies, such as the United States,…

Traces the history of moral education from the ethics-laden forties and fifties through the value-neutral sixties and seventies to the late eighties' focus on character, socialization, and culture. Offers a blueprint for future ethical instruction based on example, explanation, exhortation, environment, and experience. (MLH)

The existence of nuclear weapons is the most pervasive political and military fact of the past 40 years, and children need to be informed about nuclear concerns if they are to become good citizens. It is therefore educators' responsibility to teach the subject, however uncomfortable. (PGD)