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May 2009
| Volume 66 | Number 8
Teaching Social Responsibility
Taking Higher Ground
Marge Scherer
Schools of Conscience
Charles C. Haynes
At a time when the United States faces unprecedented challenges at home and abroad, public schools must do far more to prepare young people to be engaged, ethical advocates of "liberty and justice for all." This article explores what makes some people behave ethically—even at the risk of their own lives—and asserts that developing moral habits of the heart is the central mission of schools. It describes "schools of conscience" that support students in their search for meaning while teaching them the civic principles and virtues necessary for sustaining the common good in a democracy.
Measuring Social Responsibility
Richard Rothstein and Rebecca Jacobsen
Socially responsible citizenship has long been an important school purpose, but teachers and schools have cut back on developing citizenship skills because accountability sanctions now rely solely on academic test scores. A widening achievement gap in social responsibility and other curricular areas, particularly in schools serving disadvantaged students, can only impede the equity goals of U.S. education. Some precedents suggest ways we might measure social responsibility in school. Early National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores reported on how students were developing social responsibility and other citizenship skills and on their character development, emotional and physical health, and basic academic proficiency. In England, an accountability system for schools has combined testing with school visitation, in which inspectors judge a broad range of outcomes.
The Civic Opportunity Gap
Peter Levine
One-half of the youth population in the United States—that half with no college experience—is being left out of civic life. Although overall youth involvement in civic life has increased, as is evident in the much higher youth turnout in the 2008 presidential campaign, this increase is dominated by young adults with college experience. Youth who don't go to college are less likely to vote, volunteer, belong to civic groups, or join unions. Levine, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, has found in talking with disadvantaged, non-college-bound students that few have received meaningful opportunities for service learning or volunteerism, whereas college students he spoke with had many chances for meaningful community service. Research bears out this "civic opportunity gap"; students in more affluent schools and college preparatory courses are more likely to experience service learning, classroom discussion of current events, and even fields trips than are students in less advanced courses. Levine calls on educators to infuse more civic education and chances for civic participation into classes for underprivileged students.
The Schools We Mean to Be
Richard Weissbourd
Character education programs rarely focus on the school relationship that can be the most important in determining students' moral prospects—the relationship between parents and teachers. Schools need to focus on adult development—on the mentoring and moral capacities of teachers and parents—as well as on how parents and teachers can work together more constructively. Factors such as fear, politeness and formality, teachers' lack of time to work with a parent to understand a child, and parent aggressiveness can get in the way of good parent-teacher relationships. Nevertheless, all schools can engage parents in a community that creates moral expectations for parents and pushes them to look beyond their own children. Schools need to find more ways of engaging parents meaningfully; clearly articulate their moral goals and expectations for both parents and students through moral charters; have students read about and interact with moral exemplars; and provide opportunities for teachers, students, and parents to reflect on values.
Stirring Up Justice
Laurel Schmidt
Most students think about social justice issues, whether schools encourage this focus or not, and they look to the adults in their lives to help them decide what to do about them. Educators should encourage authentic conversations about difficult issues, embrace the question, What can we do about it? and teach students to act. Teachers can introduce students to social justice by having them write a Social Action Autobiography, which will help clarify how the students have acted for the good of others in the past. Students can read books that highlight how young people have solved social problems, and they can collaborate on projects locally, nationally, or internationally. Including social justice projects in the social studies curriculum develops skills that are fundamental to a rigorous standards-based education.
The Window into Green
Mike Weilbacher
The goal of environmental education is to create a citizenry that is knowledgeable about the biophysical environment, aware of ways to help solve environmental problems, and motivated to work toward their solution. Today environmental issues are more complex and urgent than ever, but the schools have not met the challenge of preparing young people to make good decisions about these issues, according to Weilbacher. He describes obstacles to environmental literacy, including children's lack of connection with nature; narrowing of the curriculum in response to NCLB; and the lack of a comprehensive, consistent environmental curriculum. Research has shown that exposure to nature and environmental activities have many benefits, and the author describes some innovative models for increasing environmental literacy.
Democracy at Risk
Deborah Meier
Schools are uniquely suited environments for teaching democracy. Students can learn the habit of democracy through observation and imitation and in coursework that requires them to reflect on practice, read what others have thought, and develop alternative ideas. Schools need to scour the day for options that should belong to both learners and teachers as they practice the trade of democracy. As with other members of the Coalition of Essential Schools, Mission Hill School in Boston, Massachusetts, focuses on honing the habits of mind that are most central to an informed and intelligent democratic citizenry.
A Pebble in a Pond
Rahima Wade
Elementary school teachers who want to see their young students involved in social change can take a few small steps to create do-able and meaningful experiences. Rahima Wade suggests that teachers can capitalize on young students' growing sense of empathy with others to create projects linked to the curriculum that will motivate students to build skills and knowledge they will use throughout their lives. She encourages teachers to led student interest determine what projects they will take on, and she advises teachers to include multiple perspectives and connect the projects to the curriculum and the community.
Social Justice in the Suburbs
Scott Seider
Many U.S. students growing up in affluent suburbs are insulated from the hunger, homelessness, poverty, and illness faced by individuals in their own communities and around the globe. The author of this article examines how educators in privileged communities can heighten their students' awareness of and concern about social injustice. In his study of 83 students who participated in a course on social justice issues, he found that these privileged teens sometimes responded to the course in unexpected ways. For example, some reacted to information about difficult world problems by feeling overwhelmed and helpless. Some, after studying what it is like to live in poverty, became anxious about falling into poverty themselves and therefore more protective of their own privileged positions. The author offers strategies to counteract these and other negative reactions and empower privileged youth to work for social justice.
Lighting the Moral Imagination
Molly Schen and Barry Gilmore
The authors describe the case study approach to teaching history developed by the group Facing History and Ourselves. In the Facing History approach, teachers encourage students to make connections between the Holocaust and other periods in history characterized by violent repression and the choices students will confront in their own lives. Facing History's materials and lessons follow a sequence of study that guides learners through five stages: forming identity; exploring membership; studying history; exploring judgment, memory and legacy; and choosing participation. Schen and Gilmore describe how teachers in three classes apply Facing History's methods in their social studies classes, following these five stages. They show how connecting the study of the Holocaust and other instances of genocide to deeper questions like, "What role do propaganda, government, and citizen awareness play in exacerbating tensions between ethnic groups?" fosters students' critical thinking and students' reflection on how they can personally contribute to a more democratic society.
"Hobo" Is Not a Respectful Word
Sarah Hershey and Veronica Reilly
Two teachers at a San Francisco middle school became concerned about their students' apparent indifference to the homelessness and poverty around them. The teachers created an end-of-year service learning unit that included research, creative field trips, speakers, group presentations, and development of a community service project. This article describes the unit in detail and relates how it transformed students' attitudes and produced long-term benefits.
A Learning Community Blossoms
Dan Bresman, Abigail Erdmann and Kirsten Olson
At School Within a School, a democratic high school in Brookline, Massachusetts, students are active participants in the decision-making process. The backbone of the 40-year-old school is its weekly town meeting at which students and faculty discuss and vote on issues of concern to the school community. Students vote on courses that will be offered and take part in the selection of new faculty. In the school's untracked, mixed-grade classes, older students encourage their younger classmates to commit to learning. To enhance community participation, the school requires all students to join at least one school committee each quarter. Committees may handle such complex matters as student discipline, or they may provide an avenue for students and faculty to explore and plan events related to their personal interests. Bresman, Erdmann, and Olson suggest that the school's democratic structure enables students to see how each individual can play a valuable role in society and teaches them the skills they need to participate in their own communities after graduation.
Challenging the Textbook
Gloria T. Alter
When the Milwaukee Public School District's social studies textbook adoption committee selected a traditional textbook series, a group of educators and community members actively opposed the decision on the grounds that the textbooks miseducated students and failed to teach social responsibility. The opposition formed a task force and engaged the administration in discussions about the textbooks' flaws and limitations. Acceptance of the textbooks for grades 6-8 was based on the fact that the district would provide supplementary professional development to teachers on multicultural content and teaching strategies. The district ultimately replaced the proposed K-3 textbooks and grade 5 textbook with other materials and adopted the 4th grade textbook of the state historical society instead.
Make It Personal
Suzanne Miller, Kerry Weisner, J. Spencer Edmunds and Amanda Wall
Three diverse programs have a common aim: to help students develop social responsibility by showing them the personal connection. At the first school, a 3rd grade teacher in New York takes the opportunity to connect his students with their peers in a newly founded school in India. Teachers in a British Columbia elementary school tap into their students' internal motivation to act responsibly with a schoolwide "Question of the Day" program. And a two-day simulation gives North Carolina 7th graders a direct experience in global poverty and deepens their appreciation for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
Taking Care of One Another
Robin R. Collins
A 5th grade teacher at Columbine Elementary School in Colorado found her class of 20 students undermining one another's sense of social safety and belonging through bullying, cliques, and ostracizing less socially skilled students. As Robin Collins considered how she could help her group become a more cohesive, supportive community, she took to heart one of the six actions for personal and social responsibility that Columbine promotes: "support and interact positively with others." At weekly class meetings, she set out to help students learn to act socially responsible toward their peers. At the core of the class's transition was a pledge Collins had each student make—and frequently renew—to each other student: "I will take care of you."
Service Learning and Civic Participation
Jane L. David
Assessing Student Affect
W. James Popham
This School Is About Kids
Joanne Rooney
Avoiding the Land Mines
Douglas B. Reeves
Can Service Learning Keep Students in School?
Deborah Perkins-Gough
ASCD Community in Action
Readers Talk 2.0
A Culture of Service Learning
Deirdra Grode
Grode, a teacher at Hoboken Charter School in New Jersey, shows how the K–12 school serving many low-income students makes service learning a cornerstone of its culture and curriculum. She describes annual schoolwide service learning projects, including a student march down Hoboken's main thoroughfare on Martin Luther King Day with students carrying posters related to their study of civil rights. Teachers creatively weave activities related to service learning and social justice into lessons and units.
Unlearning the Lessons of Privilege
Adam Howard
What's the underside of the messages wealthy, high-achieving students receive about the importance of being the best and the brightest? Howard takes on this question, drawing on his years teaching in an affluent private school while also coordinating his school's outreach program in urban schools. Howard found his wealthy students' competitive outlook and sheltered lives led them to react insensitively and with downright ugliness when they couldn't take first place in a sports event at an urban school. Howard conducted a six-year study of how students in four elite schools viewed their place in the world and their roles as learners and citizens. He uncovered unspoken lessons that he believes teachers (perhaps unwittingly) communicate to such youth: (1) do whatever it takes to win; (2) people outside our class are too different to relate to; and (3) stick to the "right way" of getting ahead. Howard suggests ways teachers might communicate alternative lessons. His strategies include: (1) model honesty and acceptance of failure; (2) encourage openness to diverse perspectives; (3) connect to students' enthusiasms; (4) encourage collaboration; and (5) develop students' critical awareness of the world outside their privileged group.
Welcome to the Aquarium: A Year in the Lives of Children by Julie Diamond
Meg Simpson
EL Study Guide
Teresa Preston
Copyright © 2004 by Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
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