I reflect on the United States in the past two months (March 2021) as I write. I find myself as a former Social Studies teacher (CIVICS) thinking about the calls for more civics education. I agree, and I question if once again, the pundits calling on schools to do it all, for teachers to do it all, is misguided. What if we need to focus more on CIVILITY education, not CIVICS. What if we as a society must really reflect on, and look in the mirror about what we have truly become. Are we proud of our reflection? Are we happy with what reflects back? I for one argue no. And I argue that the American people, as they have always done, has demanded the school system makes up for what is lacking in society: investment by everyone in society. I heard a lot on the radio about how 2020 was a wasted year in learning. I do not believe it was. I believe that we have learned a really critical lesson: people need to care for each other (CIVILITY). We must learn about how our self-centered approach to everything has devastated the environment, and carrying a heavy price in the future. We must learn about bow the uber wealthy must help by paying taxes, or donating to increase equality (CIVILITY). People in the US should not starve. They should not have lost their jobs in the pandemic because the US Government was too afraid to pass significant support and relief like almost every other nation in the world. We must learn our words, spoken in hatred, or in ignorance hurt others. We should not have people questioning basic beliefs in science, or calling election results fraudulent with no evidence. That is very dangerous behavior. While Americans must remember what Thomas Jefferson said about a well educated citizenry (necessary for survival of a democracy), we must remember what Montessori said about educating children: "The child who has never learned to work by himself, to set goals for his own acts, or to be the master of his own force of will is recognizable in the adult who lets others guide his will and feels a constant need for approval of others" We must reframe and re-think CIVICS and CIVILITY education in US schools. We must end the controlling nature of classroom management, and instead explore the joys of watching our children learn to collaborate, cooperate, and explore. We must ensure that we , as the general public, hold each other accountable for civility, not by punishment, but through education. We , as a society, must see that our strength is in diversity. We must seek rule of collaboration, not competition. We must support each other, and we must do so in a way that re-invests in our basic structures of civic life. Robert Putnam wrote a book called "Bowling Alone" that described the fall of American civil society. In it, he found that people become self centered, and do not see the value of society. The book, from an essay in 1985, and Bellah, et al, book Habits of the Heart, describing the ways in which individualism was impacting American society, were written before 1990. In both cases, these works clearly show that civil society is built from civility and working together. We want civic groups, and community service groups to carry out projects, but there is no time for the Scouts, for Rotary, for Jaycees, for associations. Membership in volunteer organizations are plummeting because people do not have time. Bellah and Putnam were beginning to see a major change, as civic groups were decimated by economic changes: gig economy. If people cannot satisfy the bottom of Maslow (Food, shelter, clothing) then they cannot move to volunteerism. If we are to change society, and if we are to once again restore civic and civility, we must re-focus from blaming the other, and uniting to achieve greatness. We must begin the process by following the steps of de-escalation: 1) recognize you were in a situation 2) apologize for your actions 3) forgive the other party 4) find commonality 5) work together to move beyond the insult and do better I call upon our civic leaders, and our grass roots leaders, don't just throw money at the problem. Yes provide resources, but also restructure the economy and the education system so that American children, our future are no longer adrift. Casey T. Jakubowski, PhD is a twenty year educator working at the K-12. Higher Education, and State Policy levels. He is the author of over a dozen peer reviewed articles and chapters on Civics, rural education, teaching social studies. He holds a PhD in Education Policy and Leadership from SUNY Albany with a focus on rural education, school reform policy, and dialogue. He is the proud author of Thinking About Teaching (Edumatch Publishers, VA, 2020) and the soon to be published A Cog in the Machine (Edumatch). 9/5/2022 11:50:26 am
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November 2022
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