The Future of Civic Education

Rebuilding a Democracy in Ruins

Elizabeth Yeager Washington, Keith C. Barton, Elizabeth Yeager Washington, Keith C. Barton

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781040148983
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Speaking to the need to move beyond traditional formulations, this textbook presents radical visions for transforming civic education in the United States.

Drawing on the experience of educators and scholars—including those rooted in feminist, queer, abolitionist, global, and race-conscious perspectives—this work offers new, practical ideas for civic education reform. Responding to recent political crises, many scholars, educators, and public commentators have called for a rebirth of civic education, but these all are grounded in the premise that the goal of civic education should be to teach students about the U.S. Constitutional system and how to operate within it. This book argues that the U.S. governmental system, including the Constitution, is infused with racist and anti-democratic premises and procedures. It asks: How can we seek a new path—one that is more democratic, more equitable, and more humane? A diverse range of leading civic educators, who are willing not just to push the boundaries of civic education but to operate outside its assumptions altogether, explore what future possibilities for civic education might look like and how these innovative ideas could be implemented in the classroom.

Combining theory with practice, The Future of Civic Education will be important reading for those studying or researching in social studies methods, social studies issues, citizenship, and civic education. It will also be beneficial to social studies teachers at elementary and secondary levels, as well as policymakers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Table of contents

• Cover
• Endorsements
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• List of contributors
• 1 Replacing civic education
• 2 Revealing is healing: toward the development of a history education reconciliation commission
• 3 “Why don’t you go free Mumia?”: Learning about and from U.S. political prisoners
• 4 We all we got: Black teachers helping Black students through civic estrangement
• 5 No gods, no masters: practicing freedom through anarchist civics
• 6 Transcendent civic education: global comparative explorations of hope and wicked problems
• 7 A hope for civic education: shared humanity and sustainability as guideposts
• 8 Renewing democracy: putting empathy first
• 9 Social studies education in a backsliding democracy: more civics or democratic dreaming?
• Index