Education for Citizenship

By Felisa Tibbitts

As an American abroad and working in the field of political-education reform in Central and Eastern Europe, I have been following the conversations about U.S. civics education--or, more precisely, education for democracy--with great interest over the past year. I am struck by the liveliness of the discussions taking place simultaneously in both "the West" (including the United States and Western Europe) and "the East"--even as many of us concerned confess that much of what countries conduct in the area of civics has been ad hoc and of low priority compared with other educational issues.

It seems that the world over, new as well as experienced democracies are reconsidering what should be the content of their political-education curricula. It is a time of excitement as well as concern. As I observe the American impulses toward character education and service learning, as I sense the instinct to affirm basic values and confusion over their content, and as funding cuts threaten future reform efforts, I am struck by both the parallels and the contrasts in the debates that are also taking place in Central and Eastern Europe.

There is quite a bit that we already know about how to educate for democracy. In the West, and particularly in the United States, we recognize the value of contributing to one's community and fostering a service ethic. Classroom-based research, beginning with the 1976 International Educational Assessment Civics Study (about to be repeated), has connected participatory and less authoritarian attitudes of students with participatory classroom cultures. Moreover, studies since the 1970s and the experiments that followed them have provided us with a theoretical basis concerning moral development in children and the impact of fostering just and democratic...