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Voting and School Attendance
E - It would appear that as more children attended school for longer periods of time, fewer people voted overall in elections. It can be assumed then that the idea of citizenship education for political engagement as evidenced by voting rates shows that it is not effective (26-28). The numbers are concerning because if part of education is producing contributing citizens, shouldn't they be voting and active in the community? -
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"The Whole Child"
E - Extracurricular activities, school nurses, cafeterias, and after-school programs are some of the parts of school that developed during this time to look at the whole child in response to increased immigration, urbanization, and industrialization (6). This makes sense to me as we have seen that students without adequate nutrition or care cannot focus or perform in schools as well. I didn't realize these things started around the turn of the 20th century and not earlier. -
The Pledge of Allegiance
E - Written in 1892 by a socialist named Francis Bellamy, the Pledge did NOT originally contain the phrase "under God" (15). There was concern that immigrant children and families would not feel loyal to America, thus the Pledge was created as a way to promote loyalty. With the way socialism is viewed today, this is surprising. I assumed God was always in the pledge since history is sometimes taught with a Judeo-Christian slant. -
The Pledge is Voluntary
E - U.S. Supreme Court - "West Virginia State Board of Education v Barnette" ruled that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in school was voluntary(17). Even though this happened decades before i was born, I was always under the impression as a child that the Pledge was required and not optional. Many students are unaware of their right to refuse to recite the Pledge although there has recently been more talk about students refraining from the Pledge. -
Remove Books from Libraries
G - 4. Board of Island Union Free School District v. Steven A. Pico (1982) (22). Political agendas to remove books from school libraries are a large trend in LIS, but with more advocacy and MLIS librarians in schools, it can decrease. -
Content Control
G - Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlemier (1888) (23). Admin can control content in school-sponsored publications because it’s part of the curriculum; how many admin/teachers hinder student thought? -
Good Citizenship
E - The U.S. ranked 6th in scores on an exam of citizenship knowledge given to 29 countries in 1999; however, the majority of respondents thought that being a good citizen meant being respectful of authority and obedient to laws (28). This was shocking to me since these students view "good citizen" as passive. I suppose I think that being a good citizen is doing what's best for the country and, sometimes, that means not being passive in acceptance of the status quo. -
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Common Core
G - “Eliminated from the Standards are goals of relating student feelings to a reading…or in writing about their feelings. The goal is learning to read and write for work or a college course.” (11) Common Core is not for enjoyment or growth; focus highly on ‘productive cog in capitalistic machine’. -
Protests
G - “…2014 student protests in Jefferson County, [CO] over a proposal by the members…of the school board to change the [AP]US History curriculum by downplaying the role of civil disobedience…” (3) I was living in Jeffco; teachers and students were outside for weeks. My peers and I were angry too. -
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Public Schools for Political and Economic Ideologies
G - “…public schools are used to advance political and economic ideologies that do not improve the condition of human beings.” (4) What about mental health, emotional health, identity, agency, individuality, morality?