Renewing Democracy in Young America by Daniel Hart & James Youniss

Author:Daniel Hart & James Youniss
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2018-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CIVIC EDUCATION FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Our conclusion that promoting development through traditional civics instruction is both much less effective and more poorly understood than ordinarily believed does not culminate in a rejection of school-based civics classes. We suspect that civics and social studies classes can be improved and that these improvements can enhance civic development.

However, our review suggests that laying the foundation for a new generation of citizens, engaged in their communities and prepared with the skills necessary to reinvigorate civic life in America, will require considerably more than exhorting schools to do better. We need to provide real opportunities to youth to exercise their responsibilities as citizens, advance their civic skills, acquire identities as political actors, and to believe that their contributions are essential to the public good. We have argued throughout this chapter that all of these are themes of civics education as well as characteristics of citizenship.

The next two chapters propose two kinds of initiatives that we believe offer the kinds of opportunities that will both engage youth and provide the kinds of experiences that will contribute to the development of citizens who engage fully with civic life.

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