Significance and Possibility of School-Based Citizenship Education in Poor Neighborhoods in America : Through a Case Study of "Public Achievement"

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Other Title
  • アメリカの貧困地域の学校におけるシティズンシップ教育の意義と可能性 : 「パブリック・アチーブメント」の導入事例の分析を通して
  • アメリカ ノ ヒンコン チイキ ノ ガッコウ ニ オケル シティズンシップ キョウイク ノ イギ ト カノウセイ : 「 パブリック ・ アチーブメント 」 ノ ドウニュウ ジレイ ノ ブンセキ オ トオシテ

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Description

Many disadvantaged youth in the United States are suffering not only from an academic achievement gap, but also from a profound civic empowerment gap- a widespread marginalization of those youth from civic engagement. Those who are in the low socioeconomic status are much less likely to be civically or politically engaged. The purpose of this study is to explore the significance and possibility of school-based citizenship education to empower youth in poverty and to overcome the civic empowerment gap. Specifically, a case of an urban school which has implemented Public Achievement is investigated. Public Achievement is a grass-roots, project-based citizenship education program, in which teams of young people discuss and solve problems in schools, neighborhoods, or broader communities. Poor neighborhoods tend to shape a hidden curriculum that instills powerlessness in youth and keeps them away from civic engagement. Schools, on the one hand, may reproduce and reinforce the disempowering hidden curriculum in the surrounding community; by not providing adequate civic learning opportunities, schools would send a message to students that they are not expected as productive citizens. On the other hand, the case in this study also suggests the strong possibility of school-based citizenship education; by providing an authentic civic learning opportunity like Public Achievement, schools may be able to empower students, teachers and community members by showing "the world they have never seen", and thus transform the hidden curriculum. Since most poor neighborhoods have many obstacles and very few resources to combat civic empowerment gap, it is significant that schools in such neighborhoods actively promote school-based citizenship education.

Journal

  • Journal of JASEA

    Journal of JASEA 57 (0), 110-124, 2015

    The Japanese Association for the Study of Educational Administration

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