Joel Westheimer is American-born but lives in Canada, where he teaches Democracy and Education at the University of Ottawa.
He writes:
The attack on the U.S. Capitol building was shocking but not a surprise to those studying extremism in the United States where support for democracy has been plummeting.
In 1995, just one in sixteen Americans agreed with the idea that it would be “good” or “very good” for the military to run the country rather than elected democratic officials. Today, one in five agree.
Nearly one in four Americans think democracy is a bad way to run the country and would like to live under a political system in which a strong leader could make decisions without being bothered with elections or interference from congress. But as someone who studies the role of schools in democratic societies, what keep me up at night is the finding that almost half of millennials share that view.
Democracy, it seems, is not self-winding.
Public schools in the United States were founded on the idea that democracy could not work if citizens were not taught the principles and habits of democratic life. But in the same period that support for democracy has declined, that founding purpose of schooling has shifted—you could say that it was hijacked—by the standards and accountability movements of the last two decades.
Most school districts now emphasize preparing students for standardized assessments in math and literacy at the same time that they shortchange the social studies, history, and even the most basic forms of citizenship education.
The obsession with standardized testing in only two subject areas and the relentless pressure on schools to cover more and more material means lessons that develop the attitudes, skills, knowledge, and habits necessary for a democratic society to flourish are crowded out.
Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg calls this kind of school reform GERM (for Global Education Reform Movement). It’s like an epidemic, he says, that “spreads and infects education systems through a virus. It travels with pundits, media and politicians. Education systems borrow policies from others and get infected. As a consequence, schools get ill, teachers don’t feel well, and kids learn less.”
When the testing tail wags the school reform dog, democracy loses. Why would we expect adults, even senators or members of Parliament, to be able to intelligently and compassionately discuss different viewpoints in the best interests of their constituents if schoolchildren never or rarely get that opportunity in school? When policymakers focus obsessively on learning metrics, teachers are forced to reduce their teaching to endless lists of facts and skills, unmoored from their social meaning.
Like most educators, I have nothing against facts. But, democratic societies require more than citizens who are fact-full. They require citizens who can think and act in ethically thoughtful ways.
A well-functioning democracy needs schools that teach students to recognize ambiguity and conflict in factual content, to see human conditions and aspirations as complex and contested, and to embrace debate and deliberation as a cornerstone of democratic societies.
More than 100 years ago, the philosopher John Dewey wrote that democracy must “be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife.”
We will all be glad when the global Covid-19 pandemic is brought under control. But there is another virus that threatens the United States that is fed by a toxic combination of disinformation and conspiracy theories. Luckily, the vaccine is already available: education. But public schools need to be allowed and encouraged to reclaim their democratic mission. We can no longer take democracy for granted.
Joel Westheimer is University Research Chair in Democracy & Education at the University of Ottawa and author of What Kind of Citizen? Educating Our Children for the Common Good.
joelwestheimer.org | joelwestheimer@mac.com | (613) 265-8077
References for assertions and quotations:
John Dewey, Plan of organization of the university primary school, 1895. In J. Boydston, Early works of John Dewey 1882-1898, vol. 5. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1972. Pages 223-243.
World Values Survey: Round Seven – Country-Pooled Datafile. http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSDocumentationWV7.jsp
Pasi Sahlberg, How GERM is infecting schools around the world. The Washington Post. [blog: The Answer Sheet web log by Valerie Strauss], June 29, 2012. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/how-germ-is-infecting-schools-around-the-world/2012/06/29/gJQAVELZAW_blog.html
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The author of Democracy in Chains would suggest that the erosion of democratic principles are anything but accidental. Whether because of the standards movement, as is suggested above, or because of more pernicious forces, students seem more detached from the political events of the world than ever before.
I have been off subject today due to the coup in Myanmar. Readers no doubt know that the Military Junta in Myanmar have seized power again, arresting Aung San Suu Kyi and declaring that there were irregularities in the recent election. When world events like that occur, I often take a day off to let the children search for news about the matter on the internet.
What has disturbed me today is the lack of real reaction to what has happened. Some children seem to understand, but others clearly say: “it did not happen to me so it is not important” Granted, some students are disturbed by the coup, especially its use of the rationale that the election was fraudulent. But most are just unwilling to engage in caring at all.
All this is frightening.
It is anything but accidental.
The Repugnicans know that demographics and the young are against them. They can change, or they can impose fascism–their will at the point of a gun. They don’t want to do the former.
Roy, you didn’t say how old your students are, but if I were anywhere between 13& 18, I’d be closing my emotions off to anything outside my immediate sphere right now. It would take me every ounce of energy to convert the ongoing sci-fi horror show of covid news into something that feels kind of regular, and glean some hope for what’s looking like a pretty screwed-up future.
I read recently that a majority of white people has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since LBJ, a period of nearly 60 years. If so, this disturbing fact suggests that white supremacy has thrived just under the political surface for quite a long time. It means that the Republican party has been the party of white supremacy for two generations. Most important, it means that a majority of whites supports democracy ONLY insofar as democracy means whites rule. (Jacksonianism is alive and well.) Now that our racially diverse society is becoming politically mature, this racist white majority sees that democracy no longer serves its racist agenda. Hence the decline in support for democracy in the USA. (And greater support among whites for voter suppression.)
Unfortunately, this dynamic existed when public education was supported broadly by the American people. Was Dewey ever taken seriously outside certain metropolitan areas? [“More than 100 years ago, the philosopher John Dewey wrote that democracy must “be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife.” Has this educational principle ever been true in the US, if democracy includes racial equality?] Just consider the long, sorry tale of the frustration of Brown v Topeka Board of Education.
White supremacy continues to destroy America. Do whites care? So far, the answer is not comforting.
Nailed it, Mr. Cohen!
Well, certainly since LBJ you had the Dixiecrats shifting over to Rep, which would account for one chunk of that group. Definitely race-related. But there’s another factor in play during those years: economics. Things started going south economically in ’74: many centrists probably leaned Rep in hopes of hanging onto their wallet when the bottom seemed to be falling out of everything. They probably hung in after Reagan, encouraged by what seemed at first like a rescue. And folks do tend to lean centrist-Rep [if they weren’t already] by the time they’re in their fifties [as our biggest generation was, in the ’90’s] – and during those yrs, biz was getting tougher while costs & taxes were rising. The other piece: Rep candidates for office going forward hardly seemed like they were heading up a white supremacy ticket [GHWBush, Perot, GWBush, McCain, Romney]
U.S.ers are constantly bombarded by the Corporate Owned Media (COM) and the Corporate Owned Republican Party (CORP) with propaganda lambasting the normal functions of a democratic society as “Socialism” to the point where they will not recognize a democracy until the absence of it bites them on their behinds, indeed, if then.
lambasting the normal functions of a democratic society as “Socialism”
Exactly, Brother Jon! purposefully sowing utter confusion
And, ofc, I would argue that any reasonable, functioning government is going to be Socialist, but that’s a topic for another day. LOL.
Bob We should call it DEMOCRATIC ECONOMICS? CBK
Well, I think that the ideal is for it to be an objective science. However elusive that might be, it’s a goal worth keeping.
Bob On “socialism.” The term is outdated, over-generalized and, too-often, misunderstood anyway. We need some language that reflects the difference between (a) the oligarchy or the one percent kind of capitalism and (b) Stalinesque socialism. Maybe better terminology is out there in the libraries of political literature somewhere . . . . regardless, it needs to find a way into our common discourse? CBK
Well, there is the alternative, “decency and common sense,” but it’s a bit difficult to hang an -ism on the end of that.
On a somewhat more trivial, but possibly cheerful note, I believe Joel Westheimer’s mom is Dr. Ruth Westheimer.
Oh. My. Lord. THAT’S WONDERFUL!
He can be very, very proud of his Mama!!!
Yes, brilliant Joel W. is brilliant Ruth W’s son, bless both of them. Another item about Joel: He was forced out of his faculty position at NYU when he supported teaching assistants striking there for a good contract. My wife worked then at NYU and knew him. Very decent and honorable guy, thank you.
I had a couple of interactions with him on Twitter a few years back–very nice man. He posted a picture of himself with her.
A brilliant, socially conscientious woman begat a brilliant, socially conscientious son…what hope for humanity!
We were fortunate enough–in fact, right before the lockdowns–to see//hear Dr. Ruth in person at the IL Holocaust Museum & purchased her new book, autographed prior to the event. The book is a must-read: so many words of wisdom & humor.
Like the late, great Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (o.b.m.), Dr. Ruth is a tiny woman, but an intellectual & social giant.
Lucky you!!!
“And though she be but little, she is fierce.” –Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, III, ii
Democracy is messy and complex, but it will also only fully work when money is taken out of the process. We certainly have work to do to improve its functioning, particularly in the area of criminal justice. If we want a government of, by and for the people, we need to overturn Citizens United and enact campaign finance reform. We should also consider eliminating the Electoral College as it is a vestige of the era of slavery, and it places too much power in the hands of small states. Democracy needs to evolve with the times.
It is shocking that so many young people are opposed to democracy. Perhaps they have never really witnessed a truly functioning democracy. Placing so much power in the hands of a few is no solution as too much power leads to a toxic autocracy. We have only to look at China and Russia where people are not allowed to even protest. Under Trump our country was eerily creeping toward fascism. A flawed democracy is far better than the iron fist of fascism.
Perhaps what many youth of today are opposed to is not really democracy but what has been sold to them as democracy.
When you are told that you live in a democracy but see that those in power don’t answer to the people but to the corporations and wealthy individuals, is it any surprise that you question what you were told is democracy?
In my opinion the latter is actually the rational stance.
Perhaps the youth see something the adults don’t: that America is not a democracy.
From Gilens and Page
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B
“economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.”
“What do our findings say about democracy in America? They certainly constitute troubling news for advocates of “populistic” democracy, who want governments to respond primarily or exclusively to the policy preferences of their citizens. In the United States, our findings indicate, the majority does not rule — at least not in the causal sense of actually determining policy outcomes. When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the U.S. political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it.
SomeDam I also think the “I won’t wear a mask” idea has a vague sense of unwarranted privilege hanging around it? Everyone ELSE can wear a mask, but not me. Everyone ELSE has to follow the laws, but not me. Everyone ELSE has to follow democratic norms, but not me or my corporation. . . . CBK
And if you have money, you also get to go to the front of the vaccine line.
“Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett offered on Jan. 25 an invite-only clinic for donors, board members and fundraising campaign volunteers, accord.”
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/special-invitation-only-covid-19-vaccination-clinics-at-seattle-area-hospitals-raise-concerns-of-equity/
I’d be willing to bet that is not an anomaly. The only reason they got caught is because one of the recipients of the invitation turned them in.
Perhaps when our “leaders” start acting “democratic”, the public will start placing trust in them.
But for that to happen, we have to give ALL of these people the boot.
There’s the rub.
Not incidentally, members of White House and Congress (regardless of age) were all offered he vaccine before Christmas — pretty much before anyone else.
Because they are so important?
Ha ha ha.
If it were based on importance, they would be last in line –certainlynot first.
SomeDAM Don’t you know? . . . that’s how they serve the public . . . by getting at the front of the line. CBK
We should have made them all sweat a little and maybe they would not be so stingy and slow with Covid relief.
But instead, they (and probably their families) have been vaccinated so they need not concern themselves with the unwashed masses (aka, the general public)
SomeDAM Though we see some cracks in the McConnell wall, they still are the “Party of No.” I think it must be in their DNA. CBK
Retired On the messiness of democracy . . .
I think it’s that very messiness that heralds a requirement for education for citizenship . . . BUT MORE . . . just sustained education in general . . . insofar as a consistent education prepares us just TO THINK with a developed differentiation of mind at hand.
Such messiness, complexity, and requirement for participation requires an ability to be THOUGHTFUL listeners and speakers, and I KNOW so many who are Trumpists do not like to be questioned or to try to think their way around and out of problems . . . as some who have expressed themselves on this site . . . . so many don’t even know how to carry on a civilized conversation . . . they just scream obscenities.
I had students in my philosophy classes who just didn’t like to think and said so openly. It was scary back then, and it’s scary now. CBK
Some form of civics education is mandated in every state. Most have a year-long or semester-long course in high-school, in addition to what the kids get in their American history classes. However, these courses tend to concentrate on parts and processes. Here are the three branches of government. This is how a bill is passed.
Here’s something that is REALLY DESPERATELY NEEDED: Comparative study of differing political systema. This is what a totalitarian dictatorship looks like. This, an oligarchy. This, a monarchy. Here’s what goes wrong in those.
This is how parliamentary or presidential representative democracies DIFFER. Here’s how democracy limits those wrongs.
This comparative study is VERY IMPORTANT and, clearly, neglected.
I’m willing to bet that as few as 2 out of 100 American adults know the differences between a parliamentary democracy and a presidential one.
Right, Bob. Schooling breeds cynicism about democracy when “democracy” is taught as a social studies unit to memorize chapters about the branches of govt. Joel W. referred to Dewey and that’s the exactly right place to land b/c Dewey proposed democracy as a social practice in school and in society, not as a text to be studied or a lecture about the American system of govt. Democratic practice in schools developed democratic orientations, habits, preferences, skills, and allegiances, not words about the virtues of democracy in schools where students have no formal power and teachers have only a little. As mass education in schools and colleges has become more occupational and test-driven in last 45 years, the experience of schooling has become more oppressive, so any time oppressive institutions call themselves “democratic” or pretend to teach “democracy” to students, students will perceive them and democracy as deceptive lies. In my classrooms, I tried to make democracy a practice and a relationship of power-sharing between teacher and students to legitimize the abstraction with experience.
In my classrooms, I tried to make democracy a practice and a relationship of power-sharing between teacher and students to legitimize the abstraction with experience.
Giving students real power in democratic student congresses is a great idea.
And it’s time we introduced into every high-school curriculum a course on fact-checking.
Yes!
We need to teach high-school students about the mechanisms of mind-control used by cult leaders, fascists, etc. Understanding these is inoculation against them.
The Mechanisms of Fascism: Conformity, Racism, and Obedience to Authority
Solomon Asch, The Conformity Experiment
Jane Elliot, The Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes Experiment
Philip Zimbardo, The Stanford Prison Experiment
Stanley Milgram, The Obedience Study
And, of course, we need to teach them that all these things are based in fear–fear of the Other, fear of not belonging, etc.
And the great studies by Paul Piff
Yes. And Sean Hannity and Rachel Maddow can be used as expert sources.
Thanks, Bob. That clip of Piff’s Tedtalk is highly illuminating. Everyone should watch it and then watch it again.
1 in 4 want a dictator.
Okay, so that’s 25% want to be ruled by a Putin or Trump.
But 75% of Americans do not want to be ruled by a Putin or Trump.
I repeat SEVENTY-FIVE percent do NOT!
Anyone that voted for and still supports Trump belongs to the 25% that must be kept out of power.
The only way to avoid letting 25% of Americans have their way is to get out and vote in every election. With 75% supporting our Constitutional republic and democracy, if the majority always turned out and voted, the 25% will never win a majority in government, and since the 25% are all fascists, eventually most if not all of their leaders will end up in prison for sedition, treason, and inciting violent rebellions.
But, fascists fight dirty. They lie! They cheat! They threaten! They kill!
The majority has no choice but to fight fire with fire.
The temptation of Rule by Strongman is always there to be fought. It must be fought IN EVERY GENERATION. Here’s the philosophy we should be concerned about (and warn our students against via historical examples):
So, this view–the Rule by Strongman view–is compelling. There are REASONS why people flock to it.
But it is incredibly evil, and people need to understand both–why it is attractive to people and what evil it brings about and why.
When fearful, aggrieved, vulnerable, insecure, disregarded and disrespected, people become more susceptible to strongmen and dictatorial regimes and appeals. Govts. run by and for elites encourage cynicism and disgust with “democracy” but what is being abandoned is not democracy but “ineffective parliamentarism controlled by an oligarchy.” So much more to this story but parliamentarian and oligarchy are the root causes of the right-wing force consolidated by the toxic charisma of Trump.
yes!
Two texts on this subject of Rule by Strongman in its various forms:
On Romance Literature
The Most Astonishing Anthropological Fact I Know
The struggle is to mount an interracial movement for human rights that prevents the authoritarian minority from imposing their ideology on the majority through voter suppression, gerrymandering, fear mongering, and when that fails inciting insurrection.
Preach it, Arthur!
I was thrilled to see so many people of color standing in line sometimes for hours to vote. Also, effort of the people of the first nations that went door to door on the reservations to get out the vote was impressive. Democracy requires participation.
RT: We were THAT close. It CAN happen here.
People of color saved our butts. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to them for what they did in this last election.
POC and their supporters were being gassed and beaten in the streets, but they saved democracy.
Now there is a story! The most awesome and inspiring story from our time, yet untold.
The great book on this has yet to be written but needs to be. Its title might be this:
The 2020 Election: How People of Color Saved Democracy Despite Living with Systemic Racism
were the nation more literate, I would propose this title:
The 2020 Election: How People of Color Saved Democracy Despite Living with Quotidian, Endemic, Systemic Racism
It’s a catch 22.
Democracy requires that people participate and vote but people won’t vote or participate if they don’t believe it makes any difference.
And the more times people have their hopes raised (eg, by folks like Obama) only to have them unfulfilled or even dashed, the less likely they are to vote and participate.
It remains to be seen if Biden will behave differently toward the groups that were instrumental in getting him elected.
People lose faith in democracy when the folks who we elect fail to deliver on a decent secure life. At least one of our political parties is vest in their minority commitment to wealth protection for the few. Therefore, for them democracy has become an inconvenience. Democrats will only be able to protect democracy when they deliver social and economic justice for all and explicitly call out the divisive racism the prevents unity. They’ll need to abandon trying to appease corporate campaign contributions and the deregulation the donations represent. Democrat’s embrace of privatization and testing from Clinton to Obama is a symptom of that. We don’t fail at testing. We fail at citizen and empathy development.
For them democracy has become not just an inconvenience but, because of the changing demographics of the country and the opposition to their views on the part of young people, a sure way to bring about their utter demise of their political party. The only way the Repugnicans can hold onto power in the long run, unless they change dramatically, is at the point of a gun, and they know this.
Thus the embrace of fascism or Rule by Strongman in its many forms (the sole recognized party, the military junta, the dictatorship, the monarchy, the oligarchy, etc).
And yes, Arthur, the Democrats must present a real alternative. In this, as in education, it’s the poverty, stupid. Democrats must become again, as their party was under FDR, those who stand for economic equity and actually deliver on this
I don’t think people have lost faith in Democracy….they just haven’t been privy to the advantages that Democracy is supposed to provide for it’s citizens OR they have watched those advantages slowly erode away. Grid lock by those elected to disperse tax funds and enact law is the biggest problem. Most people now see politics is for big business and not for “we the people”. “We” don’t seem to matter as long as the rich get richer and “we” have developed a skewed view of Democracy. The Game Stop fiasco is a perfect example of how people are really feeling…..and acting to make changes that politicians haven’t been willing to do.
Well said! Our glaring income inequality is one of the reasons people are losing faith in democracy.
Since 1975, productivity in the United States (the value of goods and services created per worker) has almost doubled, but wages have remained flat. All that vast increase in wealth and income has gone to the ruling class. This is unsustainable. The Trump mobs don’t know why they are angry or what the actual fixes are for their angry. Well, this is it.
Part of what is missing from the public consciousness and schools is experience with agency–the power of collective action to improve the human condition. What if that was the central theme of social studies education? What if that was made an essential feature of classroom culture? Dare I say, it can even be a feature of science education. After all, science, done right, is a collective truth seeking enterprise, which in concert with engineering can be marshaled to improve lives rather than enhance profit.
Dear Arthur,
That theme had not yet gone missing from the U.S. and even the Texas “Government” and “History” courses in the State-mandated curriculum my cohort took back in the 50s and 60s, every year from the 6th through the 12th grades. My 12th grade G&H teacher, Mrs. Shinn, had a favorite quote I can still hear and see her reciting, if a bit garbled over the years, something like “The purpose of Government is to do for the People what they cannot do as well for themselves” — so I went and looked it up from that piece in memory —
🙞 Abraham Lincoln • 1854
Sure, but it has only ever been collective action from people of good will that has ever made governments of, by, and for the people.
It’s too bad Philip Roth isn’t alive to write a sort-of sequel to The Plot Against America that would have speculated what might have happened on and after Jan 6 if the terrorists’ dream came true. What tortures, nihilism, degradations, and murders would have been etched in our public consciousnesses forever? Would it have been Mussolini redux? What violence might it have unleashed around the nation. What repression might have come? How would other nations have reacted? Would Canada and Mexico have provided safe haven for political refugees? Instead we have this slowly unfolding farce that will likely further delegitimize the concept of democracy. Given the verdict of its potential historical implications, could it be that a successful insurgency and its aftermath might have been the only way, in the long-term, to restore a wide-spread appreciation of democracy, flaws and all?
I have toyed with writing this very what if, Greg. They get to the chambers before the members are evacuated.
I have too, but I didn’t like where my speculations took me, especially with the actors being alive today. Perhaps it will take a generation or two for this novel to be written.
Yes. A harrowing read. And lord knows I wouldn’t want to hand these morons an instruction manual.
I would love to read your book, Greg, about why you wouldn’t write that book. Now that would be a great read!
Bob,
I have been obsessed by that “what if?” What if the mob broke into the chambers while the members were still there? What if? Would there have been an exchange of gunfire between terrorists and police officers? Who would have been taken hostage? I tremble to imagine the scene, the video played round the world of the collapse of the American government, beaten by a mob sent by the president, who refused to admit that he lost the election.
Many, many of these people exhibited murderous rage. They were chanting “Hang Pence.” They were asking, over and over, “Where’s Pelosi?” chilling
Had the mob succeeded, their immediate intentions might have been clear. When the mob failed to find Marie A. back in the French Rev, there is little doubt her life was spared a few more years. But even that mob was not in favor of doing without a king. They just did not want that particular king and Queen.
The intentions of this group are probably not clear at all. They would have been like a cat that catches a mouse and does not have the instinct left to eat it. They would have brought it to their mommies and put it on the back step.
Their momimes are the ones who are scarry.
Roy,
I saw something in the mob that perhaps you did not see. I saw people become savage beasts, eager to pummel a police officer with a baton or a shield or the staff of a flag. I saw a mob in which some people were armed with dangerous weapons. The guy who put his feet up on Pelosi’s desk was carrying a stun gun with 950,000 volts. Others had knives or guns. There is something about mob behavior that allows the worst human instincts to act without fear or hesitation. I suspect had they actually caught Nancy Pelosi or Mike Pence or AOC, their lives would have been in danger.
Exactly. The clarion call is “college and career! college and career!” What happened to the goal of developing good citizens? or even good community members?
Ed Deform is all about creating do-bots who will gritfully apply themselves to whatever inane tasks their Masters tell them to do.
Completely agree. I am still angry at Bill Clinton for abandoning a youth apprenticeship program and, by the end of his term, having it morph into a “everyone should have the right of two years of college” routine. I had actually hoped to help create an apprenticeship program at the Dept. of Labor that would collaborate the Education, but when inquiries were made, no one remembered the campaign pledge. People who don’t go to college and get good work with the opportunity to progress tend to become good citizens and community members.
People who don’t go to college and get good work with the opportunity to progress tend to become good citizens and community members.
Strong unions. Apprenticeship programs. Vocational high schools. Vocational post-secondary schools. More, more of all of these!
Let’s start not just giving lip service to work in this country but actually showing that we respect it.
A significant number of people have lost faith in America’s oligarchy which they mistakenly identified as a democracy.
Capitalists are not patriots. Most corporations today are global. With China’s vast population, America’s market is not as important as it once was. Capitalists will always put profit over people.
Faith — completed trust and confidence in someone or something – is not a good stance to have toward one’s government.
In fact, it’s probably the very worst stance one can have because it means one does not question anything.
And the religious definition of faith is an even worse stance to have toward one’s government
“Strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.”
Faith is not a helpful thing in the context of government.
Poet-
Jefferson understood the danger and you understand the consequence- a religious conservative majority running the courts and politicians courting the religious.
Trump chose as his new impeachment lawyer, an attorney who is controversial for his stance against victims of clergy abuse.
Linda “A significant number of people have lost faith in America’s oligarchy which they mistakenly identified as a democracy.”
DINO . . . Democracy in Name Only. CBK
Since we’re bringing up John Dewey, I’d like to point out that he never said anything about children learning about democracy. He believed that children should learn democracy – by being allowed (or, rather, required) to live it in their classrooms and their lives.
Yes. The point that Ira was making, above.
Bob I think there is reason not to be thrilled with the idea that democracy should be practiced in the classroom? Certainly, it can be applied in modified fashion . . . but only according to the children’s developmental capacities . . . and so incrementally from grade to grade? You wouldn’t want to unleash a bully or gang mentality in a classroom of children?
It’s a long developmental road from childhood to adulthood; and it takes a relatively mature person to live in and take up the responsibilities of a democratic political and ethical field? The irony is that, to thrive, a democratic maturity needs less-than-democratic guidance from parents, teachers, mentors, over years of growth. There is a such thing as too much freedom too soon? CBK
While I agree with you, even at the elementary level there are ways you can introduce and have children experience and learn about democratic principles in the classroom. While the teacher needs to be in charge and we can’t 5 and 6 year olds making all of their own decisions….. there are many ways to practice shared decision making as well as developing social and listening skills. For example, children may earn an afternoon for a special activity and be allowed to choose as a group what to do for the fun activity. Students can share ideas of what they would like to do. Everyone can listen and talk about the ideas. The teacher lists the choices (narrowed down to ones that are doable) and the class votes. Taking part in sharing ideas, listening to classmates, understanding and accepting this process and not getting upset if your choice does not “win” helps develop understanding of how a democratic process works. There are so many ways to allow students to have voice, choice and some control in the classroom – without anarchy. Students can be involved in how and what they learn, while still maintaining healthy classroom management and the safe feeling that ultimately the adult is in charge.
Yes…. it should be lived and modeled.
Democracy would-be the worst form of government — except for all the others (if it existed.)
Well….it’s certainly a mess, this country of ours.
And, as a social studies teacher of 33 years, well, how would you feel…? To teach about our government for an entire career and end up…..here…..well, really, there, in the Capitol on January 6, 2021. (I watched it on TV, in shock.)
At least I can say I’ve fought tooth and nail against the standardized testing system since the day I walked into a classroom, and even before. It’s more than obvious now where all those huge piles of tests have gotten us.
If I never see another NYS Regents Exam it will be too soon.
Whenever people bemoan how awful the ed reforms are (which I agree with), I remind myself of something very hopeful:
It is the young people who are embracing the progressive agenda and facts and truths.
It is too often the older and middle aged folks who follow Trump.
So, despite their awful test-based Common Core education, lots of young people aren’t falling for the crazy lies spewed by Trump.
Thank you teachers for that — despite the awful ed reforms, you are persevering and teaching students to recognize the truth.
Some adults like to blame the youth for the current situation, but they should really take a good look in the mirror because the older generations are completely responsible for the current state of the country.
And these generations (particularly the baby boomers) have screwed things up very very badly. With a few notable exceptions like teachers, these folks were and still are all about “me me me me” and “buy buy buy”
Fact Check | Bob Shepherd
The fact that you even have to say
that Black Lives Matter
and the fact that you do–you do have to say it.
The fact that Putin and Trump
The fact that if you tell people
it’s about their freedom,
it’s about their jobs,
it’s about those Socialists
wanting to steal your hamburgers
The fact that Jesus on a plate
holding an AR-15 at the fireworks concession
The fact that Alex Jones
The fact that I’m so good at facing facts
they should name a recovery center after me
or a firing squad in North Korea
The fact that men in three-cornered hats told other men
that it was about THEIR freedom,
that it was about THEIR equality,
when it was really about (their, shh) not paying (their, shh) taxes
The fact that it doesn’t have to be same as the old boss
The fact that the Mystic Massacre
The fact that the Fort Pillow Massacre
The fact that age-defying cream
The fact that skin-lightening cream
The fact that you could go on all day like that
The fact that you learned the facts of life
but don’t even want to know the facts of death
The fact that if you are brown in America
someone else’s de jure
is your de facto
And the fact that that’s a fact
The fact that if you’re poor,
fact finding is easy because
there’s always a fact of the day
and if you’re not,
then you are an accessory
before, during, and after the fact
The fact that all markets look pretty free
if you’re rich and spending some poor person’s labor
The fact that everybody wants their Mama,
and no one wants to admit that,
is two facts
The fact that 27,375 days
The fact that Jimmy Carter said
he had sinned against Rosalynn in his mind,
which was so JC of him,
I could have kissed him on the peanut.
Wow. That’s good, Bob. And, the comment below about the crooks, too.
I was out shoveling earlier and I thought, hey, I gotta go read that poem again. Which I just did. Time well spent -on a snow day off from school.
On my list of things to do I’ve written reminders to myself the last few years (living in this debased country of ours) to try to seek out “beautiful things”….worthy art, music, honest people, good books….
Ha, ha…notes to myself, scrawled on wrinkled paper I find shoved in a winter coat pocket.
John, if you don’t write short fiction, you should. Your notes are always so vivid. Bam. I’m in that other place. If you do write short fiction, please, please post a link.
And thank you, John.
Lindsay Graham said of Trump’s dispute with his lawyers that there were “just too many cooks in the kitchen.”
I think Ms. Graham left our the “r.”
Replacing the c with a k also works.
Yes. It certainly does.
One too many Grahams in the Senate.
Yup
A real Graham Cracker.
“Today, one in five agree.”
That is extraordinarily disturbing.