Doing democracy: Striving for political literacy and social justice

1. Doing democracy: Striving for political literacy and social justice Paul R. Carr Darren E. Lund Youngstown State University University of Calgary prcarr@ysu.edu dlund@ucalgary.ca

3. Focus • How education supports, cultivates and engages in/with democracy • Correlation between educational experience and engagement with democratic education • Importance of political literacy in educational experience • Potential for transformative democratic education  critical pedagogy • Thick vs. Thin democracy

4. Context • Neo-liberal reforms in education • Signs of uncritical engagement (and disengagement) in schools and society • Conflation of democracy and citizenship with educational achievement • Globalization • Social justice • Why is there exclusion, who defines it, how do we measure it, and what can be done to remedy it? • What are the implications of sustained marginalization? • What formal and informal processes are in place to effectively ensure constructive engagement between diverse groups and peoples? • What is the responsibility of those who have access to power and decision making?

5. Context for interrogating democracy is crisis-like situation facing schools (Shapiro, 2005) • “Issues such as the growing administrative control over teachers’ lives, allegations about mediocrity of American schools, the crisis of funding, concern about what is called educational excellence, the impoverishment of increasing numbers of children and adolescents, the influence of the media on young lives, fears about moral degeneration, school violence, bitter contention over the nature of the curriculum and of school knowledge, and widening disparities in educational achievement among ethnic and racial groups must all be seen, at the same time, as both critical issues in American education and as metaphors for the larger human and societal situation.” (p. ix)

6. Starting-points for Doing democracy • The salience of, and obsession with, elections • Concern with formal participation in politics/elections • The place of social justice in democracy • Cook and Westheimer (2006): “If people are not born democrats, then education surely has a significant role to play in ensuring that democrats are made” (p. 348). • “Democratic habits and values must be taught and communicated through life of our society, our legal institutions, our press, our religious life, our private associations, and the many other agencies that allow citizens to interact with each other and to have a sense of efficiency. The best protection for a democratic society is well-educated citizens.” (Ravitch & Viteritti, 2001, p. 28)

7. Starting-points for Doing democracy • Contesting the passive acceptance of majority rule • Resisting patriotism • Emphasis on individualism • Paulo Freire and critical pedagogy (Kincheloe, McLaren, Giroux, Macedo, Shore, etc.) • education as a political project • political literacy • banking of knowledge • critical engagement • The value of seeing democracy as a multi-layered project • Philosophy Ideology Ethos • Operating system Culture

8. Elections as a junction for critique • Are they democratic? • Who participates? • The role of money • The potential for democratic change • The media (manipulation, propaganda, enlightenment, journalism?) • The level of debate • The concentrated focus on personalities vs. the needs of society • The utility of political parties • The perpetuation of social inequities • The (dis)connection between elections and education • The enhancement of liberty and (critical) democratic engagement through elections?

9. Official development assistance (ODA) (in millions of dollars)(GNI = Gross National Income)

10. U.S. (military) foreign aid (the top six countries)

11. US foreign policy, democracy and un-democratic activity

12. US Military spending U.S. Federal budget 2009 (fiscal year) (billions of dollars) Total Outlays (Federal Funds) - $2,659B MILITARY: 51% (details below) - Non-MILITARY: 49% Human Resources - $789B (30%) • Health/Human Services • Soc. Sec. Administration • Education Dept. • Food/Nutrition programs • Housing & Urban Dev. • Labor Dept. • other H.R. Past Military - $484B (23%) • Veterans’ Benefits - $94B • Interest on national-debt (80%) due to military spending, $390B General Government - $304B (13%) • Treasury, including 20% interest on debt ($97B) • Government personnel • Justice Dept. • State Dept. (partial) • Homeland Security (15%) • International Affairs • NASA (50%) • Judicial • Legislative • other general government. Physical Resources - $117B (6%) • Agriculture • Interior • Transportation • Homeland Security (15%) • HUD • Commerce • Energy (non-military) • Environmental Protection • Nat. Science Found. • Army Corps Engineers • Fed. Commerce Com. • other physical resources Current Military - $965B (28%) • Military Personnel $129B • Operation & Maintenance $241B • Procurement $143B • Research & Development $79B • Construction $15B • Family Housing $3B • DoD miscellaneous $4B • Retiree Pay/Healthcare $70B • DoE nuclear weapons $17B • NASA (50%) $9B • International Security $9B • Homeland Security (70% military) $35B • State Dept. (partial) $6B • other military (non-DoD) $5B •“Global War on Terror” $200 billion

13. Principles from Democracy and diversity: Checklist for teaching for, and about, democracy (Banks et al., 2005) • Are students taught about the complex relationships between unity and diversity in their local communities, the nation, and the world? • Do students learn about the ways in which people in their community, nation, and region are increasingly interdependent with other people around the world and are connected to the economic, political, cultural, environmental, and technological changes taking place across the planet? • Does the teaching of human rights underpin citizenship education courses and programs? • Are students taught knowledge about democracy and democratic institutions and provided opportunities to practice democracy?

14. Concepts from Democracy and diversity: Checklist for teaching for, and about, democracy (Banks et al., 2005) • Democracy: Do students develop a deep understanding of the meaning of democracy and what it means to be a citizen in a democratic society? • Diversity: Is the diversity of cultures and groups within all multicultural societies explicitly recognized in the formal and informal curriculum? • Globalization: Do students develop an understanding of globalization that encompasses its history, the multiple dimensions and sites of globalization, as well as the complex outcomes of globalization? • Sustainable Development: Is the need for sustainable development an explicit part of the curriculum? • Empire, Imperialism, and Power: Are students grappling with how relationships among nations can be more democratic and equitable by discussing the concepts of imperialism and power? • Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism: Does the curriculum help students to understand the nature of prejudice, discrimination, and racism, and how they operate at interpersonal, intergroup, and institutional levels? • Migration: Do students understand the history and the forces that cause the movement of people? • Identity/Diversity: Does the curriculum nurture an understanding of the multiplicity, fluidity, and contextuality of identity? • Multiple Perspectives: Are students exposed to a range of perspectives on varying issues? • Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism: Do students develop a rich and complex understanding of patriotism and cosmopolitanism?

15. Parker (2003): conceptualization of democratic education • First, democratic education is not a neutral project, but one that tries to predispose citizens to principled reasoning and just ways of being with one another. • Second, educators need simultaneously to engage in multicultural education and citizenship education…. • Third, the diversity that schools contain makes extraordinarily fertile soil for democratic education…. • Fourth, this dialogue plays an essential and vital role in democratic education, moral development, and public policy…. • Fifth, the access/inclusion problem that we (still) face today is one of extending democratic education to students who are not typically afforded it. (pp. xvi–xvii) • Dewey: democratic education as enabling people to live together and also as a vehicle to resolve social problems

16. Progressive (thick) vs minimalist (thin) interpretations of democracy (Portelli and Solomon, 2001) • “common elements such as critical thinking, dialogue and discussion, tolerance, free and reasoned choices, and public participation … which are associated with equity, community, creativity, and taking difference seriously … [a] conception [that] is contrasted with the notion of democracy that is minimalist, protectionist, and marginalist and hence promotes a narrow notion of individualism and spectacular citizenship.” (p. 17)

17. Thick-thin spectrum of democracy and democratic education THIN-------------------------------------------------------------THICK

18. Thick-thin spectrum of democracy and democratic education THIN-------------------------------------------------------------THICK

19. Discussion • The commonality of the North American and Western experience can be explained, in part, by the prevalence of neo-liberal policies and realities that broadly affect youth, students and educators on both sides of the border. • Research supports the introduction of a critical pedagogical approach in education to better prepare future educators for the challenge of engaging students in the classroom AND also to frame their experiences so as be able to confront diverse political realities themselves. • Importance of political literacy and media literacy thick democracy • Peace as an objective of education

20. Discussion • HEGEMONIC PERSPECTIVES: • What are the implications for society if critical, democratic engagement (a “thicker” interpretation of democracy) is not the focus of public education? • EDUCATION AS TRAINING (NEO-LIBERALISM): • HEGEMONIC PERSPECTIVES: Why are many educators and students reluctant to critically deconstruct and assess the merits of democracy, or why do they more freely and seemingly instinctively conceptualize democracy in a more formal sense of electoral processes and formal representation? • ACCOUNTABILITY: • Incorporating a vision, a curriculum, a pedagogy, a policy framework and an institutional culture conducive to cultivating political literacy and social justice in education can assist in establishing a more accountable, democratic educational system and experience for all students.

21. Merci Gracias Thank You