Carr's Educating for Democracy

Carr, P. (2008). Educating for Democracy: With or without Social Justice. Teacher Education Quarterly, 35(4), 117-136.

What kind of democracy are we talking about?

When we talk about competition, higher standards, and accountability, we are talking about capitalism and free market. When we talk about be responsive to needs of all students, serving as a force of disrupting status quo (inclusivity), and moving toward a participatory, critically engaged community of learners, we are getting at social democracy. what kind of democracy are we enacting and teaching to our students?

The first section of Carr's article has proven to be the most helpful for my understanding of what happens in the classroom, specifically what knowledges are at the center and the margin of the pedagogy (the vision and materials of the classroom). Epistemologically, what counts as knowledge in that space? Are students learning inclusivity, participation, and critical engagement? Or are they learning obedience and conformity?  This either/or is certainly a binary that we can trouble, but I tend to see the overt and hidden messages of schools to be more about obedience and conformity to the idea of America as a free market rather than a social democracy.  And for the majority of my students (and their families) who are living in the periphery of the free market, I think enacting a social democracy will help them to construct alternatives or at least begin the delinking that Mignolo talks about. Carr calls this binary thin and thick democracy: 

The thick interpretation involves a more holistic, inclusive, participatory, and critical engagement, one that avoids jingoistic patriotism (Westheimer, 2006) and a passive, prescriptive curriculum and learning experience (Apple, 1996). This version of thick democracy reflects a concern for political literacy (Guttman, 1999), emancipatory engagement (Giroux, 1988), and political action (McLaren, 2007) that critics of the traditional or thin conception of democratic education have articulated. The key concern for the thick perspective of democracy resides in power relations, identity and social change, whereas the thin paradigm is primarily concerned with electoral processes, political parties, and structures and processes related to formal democracy. (118)

 Another way of looking at this is as I have stated above which is seeing "thin" democracy as that privatized, market democracy. If we teach our student to compete by making test scores the purpose of education, and if we say that our goal is to make students employable, then we are participating in the neo-liberal agenda. I think Carr is not actually arguing against agendas, but arguing for a different agenda -- one of social justice. Social justice is required because we must actually engage and disrupt the neo-liberal agenda before and while we are constructing a more "thick" democratic agenda.  We must develop civic literacy if we are to shift schooling.

Carr's paper presents his research in the College of Education in a university in Ohio where he had students  (129) and faculty (15) complete separate questionnaires in the 2005-6 school year.  In these questionnaires, Carr sought to understand how students and faculty conceptualize democracy and social justice in education. Students did not tend to see social justice as a fundamental component of democracy and faculty members noted how the controlling mechanisms of education/schooling  (autocratic in nature) often get in the way of democratic values.  One participant commented on how because his upbringing was homogenous, it was easy to be a citizen -- citizenship was narrowly defined, which success connecting it with democracy more explicitly is an important consideration, according to Carr (124). Another finding with the student population was the the "impact and role of power in shaping democracy" -- or at least one particular kind of democracy. Carr quotes Parker(2006) to talk about preparing teachers and thus students for democratic project: 

Difficult though listening is for any of us—especially across social positions—the project is all the more worthy of effort, experimentation, and gumption. In this way, there is some chance that educators might contribute, in a small but significant way, to “re-forming” the democratic public. This public, this heterogeneous group connected by political friendship, fundamentally is one “in which speed takes the place of blood, and acts of decision take the place of acts of vengence” (Pocock, 1998, p. 32). Citizens who possess broad social and disciplinary knowledge plus the disposition to speak and open to one another, whether they like one another or not, are precisely what the  democratic project cannot do without. ("Public discourses in schools: Purposes, problems, possibilities." Educational Research, 35 (8), 16.

Carr's research provides several important considerations for teacher education programs that I see as equally important for k-12 and college education as well. Teacher educators and teachers should address the substance and purpose of classroom practice with emphasis on the quality of what is being taught and the learning produced (identifying central concepts and in-depth understanding). Teaching about democracy and social justice cannot be an "add on" but must be inherent in practice.  He also suggests that we consider the "starting-point" for students as we develop an conceptual framework for social justice education so that students can and will engage critically. He cites Patrick (2003) in Teaching Democracy for an better understanding of this integrated approach: 

Effective education for citizenship in a democracy dynamically connects the four components of civic knowledge, cognitive civic skills, participatory civic skills, and civic dispositions. Effective teaching and learning of civic knowledge, for example, require that it be connected to civic skills and dispositions in various kinds of activities. Evaluation of one component over the other—for example, civic knowledge over skills or vice-versa—is a pedagogical flaw that impedes civic  learning. This, teaching should combine core content and the processes by which students develop skills and dispositions. (p. 3)

Thus, when we work with new teachers or with K-12 students, we need to think about civic learning as both the how and what of education. There are some systemic obstacles to implementing social justice education -- namely, the capitalist democratic framework of schooling, but that is precisely why the effort must be explicit. As Giroux argues, teachers must be politicized; and as McLaren says: teaching is never neutral.

·         Perceptions and experience of the educators in relation to democracy in education and its impact on what students learn about democracy
·         Connection between democracy and social justice
·         Thin – electoral process, political parties, and structures/processes related to formal democracy
·         Thick – holistic, inclusive, participator, and critical engagement avoids jingoistic patriotism and a passive prescriptive curriculum and learning experience – a concern for political literacy, emancipator engagement, political action – the key is in power relations, identity and social change,
·         Shifting toward constrained curriculum, supposedly higher standers, greater focus on employability, accountability – decrease in explicitly teaching for and about political literacy
·         Desirable traits for people living in a community – recycle, clean up, teat old peoplewith respect – but the are not democratic citizenship
·         Galston (2003) and Hess (2004) Teachers must be prepared and willing to address controversial issues in the classroom, and also be able to make direct linkages with civic skills and attidudes  in an explicit way
·         Most education students have a weak understanding of global issues that directly impact lives of Americans, which necessitates further inquiry into the role of teacher-educators
·         Intersection between social justice and democracy
·         Marshall and Oliva (2006) – social justice – equity, cultural diversity, the need for tolerance and respect for human rights and identity, the achievement gap, democracy and a sense of community  and belongingness, inclusion of groups that do not immediately come to  mind – differently abled
·         Moral imperative of ethical and responsible leadership
·         3 key components
o    Progressive or critical theoretical perspective
o    A deconstruction of the practical realities and perpetuation of inequities and the marginalization of members of a learning community who are outside the dominant culture
o    View schools as sites that not only engage in academic pursuits but also as locations that help creat actives to bring about the democratic reconstruction of society (Dantly and Tillman, 2006, 18-9)
·         Social justice praxis – linking the principles of democracy and equity in provocative ways so that social justice agenda becomes a vibrant part of everyday work of school leaders
·         Critical engagement Westheimer and Kahne (2004)
·         Education – production and reproduction of particular identities and social positioning
·         Bales argues (2006) teacher ed programs need to be vigilant in relation to international trends, research, and developing a relationship between teachers and learners – not discrete and finite set of teacher skills – examine how we might alter the accountability trajectory in the policy  spectacle that surrounds us; how far can democratic ed be effectively purused within tightly regimented and highly prescriptive teacher ed programs weary of not meeting standards
·         Collaborative inquiry – messy and demanding but aligns with democratic and social justice oriented values

·         Productive pedagogy – Ladwig (2004)
1. The overemphasis on classroom environments and processes rather than on
substance and purposes.
2. The relationships between foundational studies, curriculum studies and field
experiences which are currently insufficiently connected.
3. The purpose and structure of field experiences which centre too often on practicing
teaching techniques with relatively little concern for what is being taught
and the quality of learning produced.
4. The focus on student management relative to student learning, which mistakenly
assumes that management should be addressed first and separately.
5. The emphasis on syllabus content and constraints of the formal curriculum
relative to identifying central concepts and producing depth of understanding.
·         I would argue teaching morally.
·         Teaching about controversial issues – democracy and social justice – must take into account the starting-point for students; effective resources that outline the impetus, conceptual framework and application needs to be highlighted
·        Refuse to take a neutral position
·         Moral imperative of providing ethical and inclusive leadership (Ryan (2006) – curriculum in a socially just way
·         Dangers of being too focused on standards Wilson cooper (2006)