Challenges and Opportunities for Discussion of Controversial Issues in Racially Pluralistic Schools

Autor/inn/en	Kawashima-Ginsberg, Kei; Levine, Peter
Titel	Challenges and Opportunities for Discussion of Controversial Issues in Racially Pluralistic Schools
Quelle	In: Social Education, 79 (2015) 5, S.271-276 (6 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0037-7724
Schlagwörter	Student Diversity; Ethnic Diversity; Racial Differences; Civics; Citizenship Education; Political Issues; Racial Composition; High School Students; Citizen Participation; Barriers; Controversial Issues (Course Content); Discussion (Teaching Technique) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Rassenunterschied; Staatsbürgerkunde; Citizenship; Education; Politische Bildung; Politische Erziehung; Staatsbürgerliche Erziehung; Politischer Faktor; High school; High schools; Student; Students; Oberschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; 'Citizen participation; Citizens'' participation'; Bürgerbeteiligung; Controversial issues; Kontroverse
Abstract	As the American public starts to focus on the 2016 election, questions about whether "young people" (generally people who are under 30) really know enough to vote, and whether they will vote, often dominate the media discussion. It's important to know the answers to these questions because they affect our democracy. Young people have about as much civic knowledge as older adults do, and about half of young people will probably vote, as they have in the last 10 presidential elections. At the same time, this rather narrow view of young adults' civic engagement minimizes the diverse ways in which young people engage civically, such as youth activism and environmental stewardship, and overshadows a key issue that social educators must tackle as a field: How do educators address the existing civic opportunity and knowledge gap by providing all students with high quality civic learning experiences, regardless of racial and economic backgrounds? The authors recently published a study based on Commission on Youth Voting and Civic Knowledge data focusing on three major questions: (1) To what extent do young Americans' opinions and issue priorities vary by racial background; (2) How does the racial heterogeneity of a school's student population relate to the civic education and civic participation of young adults who attended that school?; and (3) What other factors may influence students' political participation as young adults? This article summarizes key findings from the study and discusses some implications for policymakers, professional development, and educators. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	National Council for the Social Studies. 8555 Sixteenth Street #500, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Tel: 800-683-0812; Tel: 301-588-1800; Fax: 301-588-2049; e-mail: membership@ncss.org; Web site: http://www.socialstudies.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01