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UNIVERSITY 300ITHE CHALLENGE OF CITIZENSHIP: EDUCATION FOR DEMOCRATIC CITIZENS
Fall 2001
Dr. Greta Nagel, Department of Teacher Education Dr. Sara Goering, Department of Philosophy Lectures & Discussion Groups: Monday and Wednesday, 11:00 - 12:15 Course Number: 17908 - 17912 (Sections 1-5)
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Prerequisites: Completion of the general education foundation courses.
This course explores the concept of citizenship, its significance for individuals at the personal, local, national, and global levels, and the role of education in cultivating good citizens. Drawing from academic work in political and moral philosophy, education, politics, and anthropology, as well as personal testimonies of individuals striving for active, responsible citizenship, this class will help students to address the theoretical question of what constitutes good citizenship and then to examine possible strategies for cultivating good citizenship through educational programs and individual action. Students will also take part in a service activity in the schools or with immigration services.
This class fulfills the interdisciplinary course credit for either G.E. category C.2.b. or D2.
COURSE ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE
This is a team-taught interdisciplinary course. Instructors (and/or guest speakers) will lecture on Mondays and Wednesdays will be reserved for breakout discussions, to be led by the instructors and teaching assistants. Lectures will be held in MM-200. Meeting rooms for the breakout sessions are:
Section 1 – Course number 17908 – ED2-216 — Dr. Nagel Section 2 – Course number 17909 – LA2-201 — Dr. Goering Section 3 – Course number 17910 – LA5-148 — TBA Section 4 – Course number 17911 – LA3-203 — TBA Section 5 – Course number 17912 – PH2-105 — TBA COURSE OBJECTIVES
Students enrolled in this course can expect to: * Analyze the basic concept and meaning of citizenship. * Read classical and contemporary pieces on the philosophical foundations of citizenship. * Explore the requirements of citizenship at a personal, local, national, and global level. * Consider environmental and cultural influences on the exercise and meaning of citizenship. * Analyze the current educational system’s role in preparing students for citizenship. * Explore possible innovations for improving education for citizenship. * Read personal testimonies that reflect the challenge of citizenship. * Utilize critical thinking skills in order to develop compelling and logical arguments for class discussion, individual presentations and writing assignments. * Improve their library research skills, such as the use of electronic databases. * Reflect on their own roles as responsible citizens.
REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION
1. Weekly reading reflection papers (10) 20% 2. Action plan for service project 10% 3. Service project and write-up 20% 4. I-search paper 20% 5. Three Odyssey Brief Reports (5% each) 15%
READINGS
The Freedom Writers Diary by The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell, NY: Random House, 1999. Developing Democratic Character in the Young (eds. Soder, J. Goodlad, and McMannon), San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2001.
Course Packet TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE
Week I: Values and Citizenship: Personal Meanings August 27: Introduction to the course, professors, graduate assistants, and students
August 29: First breakout sessions: card sort on values and personal definitions of citizenship
Week II: Values and Citizenship: Finding a Voice Sept. 3: Labor Day – no class
Reading: The Freedom Writer’s Diary (all)
Sept. 5: Breakout sessions: discussion of book and initial planning for service projects
Week III: Individual Action and Social Change Sept. 10: Speaker: Erin Gruwell, “Individual Action and Social Change” Sept. 12 Breakout sessions
Week IV: Citizens in the Classroom: Building Classroom Community Sept. 17: Speaker: Greta Nagel
Readings: Greta Nagel, selections from The Tao of Teaching Cynthia McDermott et al., Chapter 5 “Creating a Community and Building Trust” from Beyond Silence: Listening for Democracy
Sept. 19: Breakout sessions: First Odyssey Report Due
Week V: The Citizen and the University/Community Sept. 24: Marcia Beauchamp (The First Amendment Center), “Rights, Responsibilities, and Respect: A Civic Framework for Living With Our Deepest Differences”
Readings: Donna Kerr “Democracy, Nurturance, and Community” (from Democracy, Education, and the Schools) Stephen Macedo (from Diversity and Distrust)
Sept. 26: Breakout sessions: Action Plan for Service Project due
Week VI: Philosophical Foundations of Citizenship and Civil Disobedience Oct. 1: Speaker: Sara Goering
Readings: Selections from Plato’s Apology and Crito
Oct. 3: Breakout sessions
Week VII: Diversity, Identity, and the Conditions for Civic Engagement Oct. 8: Speaker panel: Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill, Huong Nguyen (Cambodian immigrant and master teacher)
Readings: Robert Putnam, selection from Bowling Alone
Oct. 10: Breakout sessions
Week VIII: Children Making a Difference Oct. 15: Speaker: Catherine Ryan Hyde (author of Pay It Forward)
Readings: Catherine Ryan Hyde (read the novel or see the movie); Mary Catherine Bateson “Learning in Layers” (in Developing Democratic Character in the Young)
Oct. 17: Breakout sessions: Second Odyssey Report due
Week IX: Interactive poster session for service projects
Oct. 22: A poster session that shows what the student pairs have done so far in their service projects. Readings: Mary Catherine Bateson “Democracy, Ecology, and Participation” (in Democracy, Education and the Schools Oct. 24: Breakout sessions: Service project poster/write-up due
Week X: Action and Inaction: Altering the School Environment
Oct. 29: Speaker: Jackson Katz (Founder, Mentors in Violence Prevention), “Responsibility for Action in the Face of School Violence”
Readings: Barbara Christian “The Crime of Innocence” (in The Good Citizen) Oct. 31: Breakout sessions
Week XI: Philosophy in the Schools
Nov. 5: Speaker: Sara Goering and video presentation: philosophy for children Readings: Matthew Lipman, Chs. 1-3 from Philosophy Goes to School Gareth Matthews, selections from Dialogues with Children Gareth Matthews, Chs. 1-3 from The Philosophy of Childhood
Nov. 7: Breakout sessions Week XII: Cultural Diversity and Learning to “Do” American Life Nov. 12: Speaker: Tou Ger Xiong (National Association for Multicultural Education)
Readings: Stephen Macedo, selections from Diversity and Distrust
Nov. 14: Breakout sessions
Week XIII: Democratic Education: Theoretical Perspectives
Nov. 19: Speaker: John Goodlad and Stephen J. Goodlad (University of Washington, Center for Educational Renewal—a father/son debate/discussion), “Educating for Democracy" Readings: John Goodlad “Convergence” (in DDCY) John Goodlad “Democracy, Education and Community” (in Democracy, Education and the Schools) Stephen J. Goodlad “Making Democracy Real by Educating for an Ecocentric Worldview” (in DDCY) Amy Gutmann, selection from Democratic Education Nov. 21: Breakout sessions
Week XIV: Moral Education and Citizenship Nov. 26 : Speaker: Michael Pritchard (Western Michigan University), “Moral Education and Citizenship” Readings: Michael Pritchard, selections from Reasonable Children: Moral Education and Moral Learning
Mark Johnson “Moral Imagination” (in The Last Best Hope) Nov. 28 : Breakout sessions: I-search drafts due
Week XV: Citizenship and the Work of Composing a Life Dec. 3: Speaker: Greta Nagel Readings: selections from Mary Catherine Bateson, Composing a Life
Dec. 5: Breakout sessions: Third Odyssey report due
Final Examination – Monday, December 10 --- 10:15 - 12:15
Bibliography
Bateson, Mary Catherine Composing a Life Grove Press (reissue edition), 2001.
Bateson, Mary Catherine “Learning in Layers” in Developing Democratic Character in the Young (eds. Soder, Goodlad, & McMannon), San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2001.
Bateson, Mary Catherine “Democracy, Ecology, and Participation” in Democracy, Education and the Schools (ed. Soder) San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996.
Christian, Barbara “The Crime of Innocence” in The Good Citizen (eds. Batstone and Mendieta), NY: Routledge, 1999.
Goodlad, John “Convergence” in Developing Democratic Character in the Young (eds. Soder, Goodlad, & McMannon), San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2001.
Goodlad, John “Democracy, Education and Community” in Democracy, Education and the Schools (ed. Soder) San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996.
Goodlad, Stephen J. “Making Democracy Real by Educating for an Ecocentric Worldview” in Developing Democratic Character in the Young (eds. Soder, Goodlad, & McMannon), San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2001.
Gruwell, Erin and the Freedom Writers The Freedom Writers’ Diary NY: Random House, 1999.
Gutmann, Amy Democratic Education Princeton University Press, 1999 (revised edition).
Hyde, Catherine Ryan Pay It Forward Pocket Books, 2000.
Johnson, Mark “Moral Imagination” in The Last Best Hope (ed. S. Goodlad), San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2001.
Kerr, Donna “Democracy, Nurturance, and Community” in Democracy, Education, and the Schools (ed. Soder) San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996.
King, Jr., Martin Luther “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” in Fifty Readings in Philosophy (ed. Abel), NY: McGraw-Hill, 1994.
Lipman, Matthew Philosophy Goes to School Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1988.
Macedo, Stephen Diversity and Distrust: Civic Education in a Multicultural Society Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Matthews, Gareth Dialogues with Children Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992.
Matthews, Gareth The Philosophy of Childhood Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994.
McDermott, Cynthia et al. “Creating a Community and Building Trust” Chapter 5 from Beyond Silence: Listening for Democracy (ed. McDermott), Portsmouth: NH: Heinemann, 1999.
Mendieta, Eduardo “Becoming Citizens, Becoming Hispanics” in The Good Citizen (eds. Batstone and Mendieta), NY: Routledge, 1999.
Nagel, Greta The Tao of Teaching Plume, 1999.
Plato, The Last Days of Socrates (includes the Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo) (translated by Tredennick), NY: Penguin, 1995.
Pritchard, Michael Reasonable Children: Moral Education and Moral Learning Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1996.
Putnam, Robert, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community Simon & Schuster, 2000.
Putnam, Robert “What Makes Democracy Work?” in The Last Best Hope (ed. S. Goodlad), San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2001.
Thomashow, Mitchell Ecological Identity: Becoming a Reflective Environmentalist Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995.
West, Cornel “The Moral Obligations of Living in a Democratic Society” in The Good Citizen (eds. Batstone and Mendieta), NY: Routledge, 1999.
Young, Iris Marion Throwing Like a Girl and Other Essays in Feminist Philosophy and Social Theory Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1990.
Young, Iris Marion Inclusion and Democracy Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Description of writing assignments:
1. Weekly reading reflection papers (10) 20% Due weekly
These will be weekly journals (1-2 pages each) that offer short summaries and reflections on the readings assigned for the week. They will be due during the lecture course. Although we will encourage the students to write such a journal each week with a Monday class (for a total of 13 weeks), they will only be required to hand in TEN such journal entries. These journals will be commented on, but will receive pass/fail grades.
2. Action plan for service project 10% Due September 26 (Week 5)
This assignment (2-3 pages) will be a detailed description of what the student intends to do for his/her service project. We plan to have our students work with one of several programs (e.g., the Better Learning After School Today (BLAST) program, the CSULB Center for the Advancement of Philosophy in the Schools, the College of Education student tutoring program) for roughly 3-4 weeks of the course. Students will work with younger students on a project of their choosing (e.g., organizing a community service project, leading discussions on citizenship and children’s rights, helping to organize tutoring sessions between children). This assignment will serve as an outline of the goals and methods for the project. These papers will be graded with letter grades.
3. Service project and write-up 20% Due October 31 (Week 10)
This assignment (4-5 pages) will be a summary and analysis of the service project experience. We will ask students to reflect on their experiences in working with younger students and then to tie those experiences in with the readings on civic education and the cultivation of good citizens. Part of this grade will also be based on the hours each student works at his/her placement site. These papers will be graded with letter grades.
4. I-search paper 20% Due December 10 (Finals)
This paper is called an “I-search” paper as opposed to a “Re-search” paper because it starts with the students own experiences in the area. Students will formulate a paper topic based on their experiences in the service project and their readings of the assigned materials (as well as interactions with the guest speakers). We will ask students to turn in rough drafts of the I-search paper during Week 14, and then we’ll have them turn in the final version during finals week (and we’ll ask several of the students to present their work during the final class period). The final papers should be 6-8 pages long. These papers will be graded with letter grades.
5. Three Odyssey Brief Reports (5% each) 15% Due 9/19, 10/17, 12/5
These short papers (2 pages each) will be summaries and reflections on Odyssey events which take place outside of the Odyssey class. Each student will be required to attend and write about at least three such events. These papers will be graded with letter grades.
6. Attendance and participation 15%
Because much of this course is based on interaction and discussion, we will require students to attend lectures and discussion sections. In order to receive full credit for attendance and participation, students must regularly attend classes (missing less than two discussion sections) and actively participate in discussion sections.
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Site Updated :
August 24, 2006
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