The author presents evidence of "glaring gaps in U.S. students' civic knowledge, motivation, and interest." From the inception of the United States through the mid-20th century, he writes, civic education was at the center of U.S. schooling. Since then, however, there has been a decline in civics instruction, fueled by increasing…

Public institutions of higher education are charged with "preparing the next generation of informed, engaged citizens for our democracy" (American Association of State Colleges and Universities [AASCU] 2003, 1). Many institutions have fulfilled this mandate by becoming educational partners with Debate Watch, a program of the Commission on…

Post-World War II adult civic education sought to promote citizen participation, individual development, and the creation of an aware and informed citizenry. The objectives were the creation of a public opinion able to assess critically the accomplishment of government, and citizens able to identify and solve common social problems. (Author/AG)

Examines the hazards of teaching school children to have unquestioning trust in the government and its leaders. Suggests that students should be taught the actual rather than an idealized mechanism version of the American politics, and also the importance of the democratic citizen as both supporter and critic of the system. (MK)

Schools fail to provide understanding and skill in the process of social scientific inquiry and the ability to analyze political decisions and values, and fail to develop within students an understanding of the capacities and skills needed to participate effectively and democratically in politics. To remedy some of these weaknesses, the movement…

Inner city youth must be made aware of the problems confronting them on an individual level, the social factors which have brought these problems about, the facts about the constitutional relationships between citizen and government, and, finally, the uses of citizen power. (Author/JB)

There is increasing evidence that what we call civic education embraces only a part of the influences operating on a people, and may well be among the less important. There are a number of practical obstacles to the success of civic education in political socialization. The multifunctionality that allows schools to have so many favorable effects,…

The author distinguishes between the concepts of political socialization and political education. He argues that political socialization has come to dominate both our thinking and our teaching in the area of civic education. Suggestions for promoting political education are included. (DE)

Questions considered are: What are the modal political beliefs and attitudes of junior high school students? What are their capabilities for political learning and what suggestions for improving instruction can be derived from studies of their political learning? (Author/VW)

This paper describes the study which attempts to determine if civic education and political socialization topics are international in scope and, moreover, if instruments can be designed to measure cross-national effects of such education. An international committee first meeting in Hamburg, Germany, in 1966, decided to treat the subject…

A number of third-grade social studies texts were analyzed with regard to six categories: civic orientations, benefits received, value words, symbolic references, authority figures and hero images. The political world...presented in these textbooks is one in which authority is benevolent and social conflict is minimal. (Author)

This Report of the National History Project presents and evaluates data on civics education in 951 elementary and secondary schools in 10 provinces. Civics education, taking place primarily in Canadian history and social studies classes, was seen as having important potential for developing knowledge and attitudes about Canada which would foster…

The author summarizes and comments on the recent large-scale assessment of civic education in Canada, "What Culture? What Heritage?" All aspects of the study (see SO 000 280) are reported and discussed. The only criticism centers on the research methodology, especially the attitude measures which the reviewer believes lack rigor. (DJB)

The goal of civic education, as discussed in this paper, is responsible political activism. Although the word activism tends to conjure a negative image of a revolutionary student body for some, the term is used here to express active participation in the decision making process, respect for others' opinions, and upholding one's beliefs. In this…

The main purpose of this volume is to provide information and ideas which might contribute to the improvement of secondary school instruction about voter behavior and elections. The focus is on the real political world and why people behave as they do. Facts and ideas are drawn from the work of social scientists, and the questions raised are those…