@article{9e592f2aeb604b22b8b5bd23b6f75a2a,
title = "The role of public schooling in preparing youth for civic reasoning and engagement",
abstract = "This article explores the role of public schooling in preparing youth to engage in civic reasoning and civic action. The current challenges in the public arena- a pandemic, economic depression, civil unrest over continued systemic racism-illustrate the complexity of sense-making required to address these conundrums. At the same time, these challenges highlight inequities that have persisted over the course of U.S. history. The article further explores the mix of challenges and opportunities that the structure of the U.S. government poses to citizens hoping to grapple with these complexities, arguing that the knowledge base required to meet these civic challenges and opportunities are not just cognitive but epistemological and ethical. The article concludes that the development of such a complex knowledge base must be distributed across the K-12 public education sector: not limited to civics classes, but distributed across all the disciplines taught in schools.",
keywords = "Civic engagement, Civic literacy, Human development, Human learning, Philosophy of education",
author = "Lee, {Carol D.}",
note = "Funding Information: The recommendations I make reflect the findings from the Panel of Civic Reasoning and Discourse, a study group formed within the National Academy of Education and funded by the Hewlett Foundation.14 The panel is an outgrowth of a proposal I submitted to the National Academy of Education in 2016 after the contentious presidential election. I was concerned that our public discourse has so disintegrated that it was hard to see where we could find common ground. The question I posed to the Academy is, “What is the role of public education in preparing young people to participate in civic reasoning and discourse, particularly in contentious times as we faced in 2016 and that we face today?” History is important because our history has always been contentious. Each generation faces new, but unfortunately also persistent, societal challenges. What facilitates progressive moves within and across generations are commitments to democratic values, dispositions to empathize with others, and to wrestle with complexity? I have argued for deepening knowledge of the complex issues with which we wrestle, but equally important are understanding the ethical dispositions and the values through which we filter knowledge. It is reported that Benjamin Franklin in 1787 at the last meeting of the Constitutional Convention when asked whether we have a monarchy or a republic said, Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.",
year = "2020",
doi = "10.5325/goodsociety.29.1-2.0090",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "29",
pages = "90--99",
journal = "Good Society",
issn = "1089-0017",
publisher = "Penn State University Press",
number = "1-2",
}