Inside Student Government: The Variable Quality of High School Student Councils

Autor/inn/en	McFarland, Daniel; Starmanns, Carlos E.
Titel	Inside Student Government: The Variable Quality of High School Student Councils
Quelle	In: Teachers College Record, 111 (2009) 1, S.27-54 (28 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1467-9620
Schlagwörter	Political Socialization; Citizenship Education; Student Government; Citizen Participation; Interviews; Teacher Role; Comparative Analysis; Teacher Student Relationship; Socioeconomic Influences; Racial Factors; United States + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Politische Sozialisation; Citizenship; Education; Politische Bildung; Politische Erziehung; Staatsbürgerliche Erziehung; Schülerparlament; 'Citizen participation; Citizens'' participation'; Bürgerbeteiligung; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Lehrerrolle; Teacher student relationships; Lehrer-Schüler-Beziehung; Sozioökonomischer Faktor; USA
Abstract	Background/Context: Student governments are the first direct experience that youth have of representative government. However, very little research has been done on student councils in spite of their ubiquity in American high schools and consistent references to their positive effects on the political socialization of youth. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This article studies how student councils are variably organized across the nation to determine how and why better or worse quality experiences of representative government are being had by youth just before they enter adulthood and have the opportunity to be engaged in the nation's political system. Research Design: The authors conducted interviews with student council sponsors, collected a nationally representative sample of student council constitutions, and then looked at the variance in student powers and faculty controls over council endeavors. Conclusions/Recommendations: The study finds that student councils are variably organized by school charters and by income levels and race of student populations. Elite public schools afford councils unprecedented powers and low faculty oversight, whereas impoverished schools and those with disadvantaged minorities tend to lack councils or merely have ones that perform social functions. By contrast, private religious schools have the most active councils engaged in a wide range of activities, but their decisions and memberships are constrained by a great deal of faculty oversight. Such variation in representative government has implications for political socialization and the types of citizens being developed in the United States. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Teachers College, Columbia University. P.O. Box 103, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027. Tel: 212-678-3774; Fax: 212-678-6619; e-mail: tcr@tc.edu; Web site: http://www.tcrecord.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10