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| No Child Left Thinking |
| No Child Left Thinking p. 2 |
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Democratic Educational Goals
Recall my opening question: If students from a totalitarian nation were secretly transported to a U.S. classroom, would they be able to tell the difference? Both classes might engage students in volunteer activities in the community – picking up litter from a nearby park perhaps or helping out at a busy intersection near a school or an old-age center.
Government leaders in a totalitarian regime would be as delighted as leaders in a democracy if their young citizens learned the lessons put forward by many of the proponents of personally responsible citizenship: don’t do drugs; show up to work on time; give blood; help others during a flood; recycle; etc. These are desirable traits for people living in any community. But they are not about democratic citizenship. In fact some conceptions of personal responsibility – obedience and loyalty, for example – may work against the kind of independent thinking that effective democracy requires.
For more than two centuries, democracy in the United States has been predicated on citizens’ informed engagement in civic and political life and schools have been seen as essential to support the development of such citizens. “I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves,” Thomas Jefferson famously wrote, adding that if the people are “not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education.” Belief in the fundamental importance of education for democracy has been long-standing. And yet these beliefs are at risk in schools today. For democracy to remain vibrant, educators must convey to students that both critical thinking and action are important components of democratic civic life – and students must learn that they have important contributions to make. Democracy is not a spectator sport. The exit of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, dedicated to a critical history of war, bears the following inscription:
History is yours to make. It is not owned or written by someone else for you to learn . . . . History is not just the story you read. It is the one you write. It is the one you remember or denounce or relate to others. It is not predetermined. Every action, every decision, however small, is relevant to its course. History is filled with horror and replete with hope. You shape the balance.
I suspect many readers could imagine a lesson in democracy by beginning a discussion with just such a quotation.
Joel Westheimer is University Research Chair and Professor of Education at the University of Ottawa. His most recent book is Pledging Allegiance: The Politics of Patriotism in America’s Schools (ed.) (Teachers College Press, 2007). Portions of this article are adapted from “Teaching Students to Think About Patriotism” (Educational Leadership, v.65, no. 5).
