EDUCATION FOR A FREE NATION
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Excerpts from Federal Civics
Excerpts from the Center for Civic Education (CCE)
publications: examples of how the federal civics are designed
to promote the building blocks of global citizenship. The CCE is
supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Education, first
authorized under federal legislation in 1994 and re-authorized under 2002
No Child Left Behind. The National Council of State Legislators (NCSL)
also awarded the CCE a $5 million grant this year.
*
We the People:
The Citizen and the Constitution, "What advantages might
be offered by world citizenship? What disadvantages?
Do you think that world citizenship will be
possible in our lifetime?" [p. 203] This civics
textbook is published and distributed by the CCE, funded by federal law
through grants from the U.S. Department of Education.
*
Teaching
Democracy Globally, Internationally, and Comparatively: The 21 st
-Century Civic Mission of School: We should imagine a "slow
but steady rise to prominence of transnational conceptions and
institutions of democracy." The "new civic mission of
schools" is defined as teaching "global" democracy.
"In the past century, " it
says, "the civic mission of schools, at its best, was an
enlightened, open-ended, and thought-provoking
education for democracy in a sovereign state, such
as the United States of America, France, Japan, or India. The
purpose was induction of each new generation into the democratic culture
of a particular society and country in order to maintain the political
and civic order or to improve it on its own terms. At its worst, the
civic mission involved heavy-handed and
mind-numbing inculcation of uncontested political loyalty to the
state and society, democratic or otherwise." By contrast this
century's education for citizenship will be global "for a world
transformed by globally accepted and
internationally transcendent principles and processes of
democracy." (pp. 1-2)
*
Goals for
Civic Education in the Republic's Third Century, by R. Freeman Butts:
"Unless the profession and the public together alert themselves
this time to the need for a 'history and civics lesson' about the First
Amendment on religion and education, we may find
the realm of public education narrowing and disintegrating under a
massive conservative counter-reformation that seeks to reverse 40 years
of liberal jurisprudence. We may witness the effort to
excommunicate the doctrine of separation of church and state and
condemn it as a heresy perpetrated by an erring
Supreme court, which must be taught to dance to the true tune of
"original intent" being orchestrated by Attorney General
Meese and Chief Justice Rehnquist. This was one of the constitutional
questions at issue in the confirmation hearings on Judge Bork."
[Chapter 2, Part E]
*
Goals for
Civic Education in the Republic's Third Century, by R. Freeman Butts,
on global education, multicultural education and citizenship education:
"My principal argument, then, is that these three major drives in
American education are rightly interdependent; that
keeping these movements separate is essentially artificial and
constitutes a distortion of the logic that binds them
together;" [Chapter 4]
*
Res
Publica: An
International Framework for Education in Democracy, Civitas
Program: "Governmental and non-governmental organizations [NGOs]
focusing upon local, regional, or global matters are
increasingly challenging the sovereignty of the
nation-state. These organizations compete with the nation-state as
the primary focus of political attention by citizens and as primary
agents in international politics... Moreover,
international law created through international
agreements concerning a wide range of policy areas has in some
cases eroded the autonomy of nation-states to make
policy in these areas. Examples include the environment, economic
topics, and human rights, all of which are the subjects of international
agreements." [p. 119]
The CCE is the author of the National Standards for Civics and
Government, written under contract with the federal government.
According to the CCE,: "The intended audience for the Framework
[above] ranges from teachers and educational
policy makers responsible for civic education programs to
curriculum developers, and
teacher education and credentialing institutions
responsible for training competent classroom teachers. The
Framework can also be used as a resource by any group or individual
interested in democracy. We ask readers in any part of the world to
comment freely and critically on this Framework on a continuing
basis." [Emphasis added.]
Center for Civic Education,
5145 Douglas Fir Road, Calabasas, CA 91302-1440, Tel:
818-591-9321, Fax: 818-591-9330
Email: cce@civiced.org
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