Making Good Citizens - Education and Civil Society 0300088787, 0300099177, 2001000692

Citation preview

WILLIAM M . DAMON

EDITED BY

Diane Ravitch & Joseph P. Viteritti

JEAN BETHKE ELSHTAIN NATHAN GLAZER CHARLES L. GLENN GERALD GRANT D . SUNSHINE HILLYGUS MARK HOLMES NORMAN H.

EDUCATION AND CIVIL

NIE

SOCIETY WARREN A.

NORD

ROBERT D . PUTNAM JACK N . RAKOVE DIANE RAVITCH ROSEMARY C . SALOMONE JOSEPH P.

\'ITERITTI

ALAN WOLFE

Making Good Citizens Education and Civil Society

Edited by Diane Ravitch and Joseph P. Viteritti

Yale University Press New Haven & London

Copyright © 2001 by Yale University. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for public press). without written permission from the publishers. Designed by Rebecca Gibb. Set in Adobe Garamond type by The Composing Room of Michigan,· Inc. Printed in the United States of America by Vail-Ballou Press, Binghamton, New York. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data. Making good citizens: education and civil society / edited by Diane Ravitch and Joseph P. Viteritti. p. cm. Includes bibliographical reference and index. ISBN 0-300-08878-7 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 0-300-09917-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) I. Citizenship-Study and teaching-United States.

2. Civics-Study and

teaching-United States. 3. Education-Aims and objectives-United States. I. Ravitch, Diane. II Viteritti, Joseph P. 1946- . LC1091.M28 2001 360.II '5-dc21 2001000692 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

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Contents

Acknowledgments, vii Introduction Diane Ravitch andJoseph P. Viteritti, 1 Education and Democracy Diane Ravitch, 15

2 Education and Democratic Citizenship Norman Nie and

D. Sunshine Hillygus, 30

3 Community-Based Social Capital and Educational

Performance Robert D. Putnam, 58

4 Fluctuations of Social Capital in an Urban Neighborhood

Gerald Grant, 96

5 To Not Fade Away: Restoring Civil Identity Among the

Young William Damon, 122

6 Moral Disagreement, Moral Education, Common Ground

�rren A. Nord, 142

7 Some Problems in Acknowledging Diversity Nathan Glazer, 168

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Contents

8 Education and Citizenship in an Age of Pluralism Mark Holmes, 187 9 Common Education and the Democratic Ideal Rosemary C. Salomone, 213

10 Once More into the Breach: Reflections on Jefferson, Madison, and the Religion Problem jack N Rakove, 233

11 Civil Society, Religion, and the Formation of Citizens jean Bethke Elshtain, 263

12 Schooling and Religious Pluralism Alan Wolfe, 279

13 Religion and Education: American Exceptionalism? Charles L. Glenn, 297

14 Risking Choice, Redressing Inequality Joseph P. Viteritti, 326 List of Contributors, 344 Index, 347

Acknowledgments

This symposium was conceived with the cooperation and support of the Smith Richardson Foundation, and with additional funding from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. The book is one of a series published under the auspices of the Program on Education and Civil Society at New York University, sponsored by the John M. Olin Foun­ dation with additional support from the Achelis and Bodman Foun­ dations. The views expressed in the chapters are solely attributable to their authors. Once again we are grateful for the opportunity to work with an ex­ cellent staff of professionals at Yale University Press. We owe special thanks to John Covell, who supported the project with great enthusi­ asm, Susan Arellano, for seeing it through to completion, and Dan Heaton for his extraordinary skills as a manuscript editor. We also want to thank our research assistant Kevin Kosar and administrative assistant Joyce Kong for their help in the preparation of the manu­ script.

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Introduction Diane Ravitch and Joseph P. Viteritti

The last decade of the twentieth century �ill be remembered by scholars of civic education as a time when research and social com­ mentary converged to call into question the condition of American democracy. Robert Putnam's striking metaphor of "bowling alone" resonated with many as an accurate description of the problematic state of our civic life. Putnam claimed that Americans had become less inclined to join the voluntary associations that for generations had served as the backbone of their communities and expressions of their common ideals. 1 In a provocative essay published in 1995, he laid out a disturbing array of empirical evidence showing that membership was down in such long-established volunteer organizations as Parent­ Teacher Associations, the Boy Scouts, and the Red Cross, as well as fraternal societies like the Lions, the Elks, the Jaycees, and the Ma­ sons, and women's groups such as the League of Women Voters and the Federation of Women's Clubs. 2 The apparent civic disengagement of large numbers of Americans was especially startling in a country that Tocqueville once described as a nation of joiners. 3 Civil society-that noncommercial aspect of

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community life that exists somewhere between the individual and govern­ ment-is an essential part of the American formula for democracy. It is inside the clubs, churches, and neighborhood associations composing civil society where people develop the skills and attitudes required for cooperative social ac­ tion, characteristics that build trust, reciprocity, generosity, and public spirit. 4 These same local organizations also serve as an important buffer between our private lives and government authority, a middle ground that is indispensable in a free society. 5 To be sure, Putnam's thesis evoked some strong dissents. The late Everett Carl Ladd was one of the most outspoken critics of the decline thesis. Roper Center data cited in his book showed that although PTA membership was down, parents were forming and joining new organizations within their school districts that were not tied to professional interests and teachers' unions. In the eyes of many parents, the national PTA appears to have lost its grassroots base as a voice for parents and is frequently perceived as a representative of the interests of professionals rather than children. Although many of the old-line civic asso­ ciations are losing membership, other groups like environmental organizations and soccer leagues are experiencing growth. 6 Some surveys indicate that the same people who are reluctant to join established organizations on a long-term basis are apt to volunteer a few hours a week at a local charity or community group. Over the past decade the nature of civic involvement has undergone sig­ nificant changes, Ladd argued, but it is not necessarily on the decline. Sociologist Robert Wuthnow maintains that in a highly mobile contempo­ rary society, neighborhoods and places of residence are not the enclaves that they used to be. Community is defined less by geography and more in terms of a commonality of interests among like-minded people whose membership in organizations is temporary and fluid. 7 The porous organizations to which they belong, or pass through, are often brought together in response to specific needs that allow individuals to participate in projects with definite objectives attainable over a relatively short period of time, such as a food drive during the holiday season or a campaign to launch a new playground. Indeed, the activi­ ties that take place in such settings represent an important kind of civic in­ volvement, but it is questionable whether the "loose connections" they engen­ der among people constitute a viable substitute for the bedrock community associ;uions of yesteryear. The political scientist Theda Skocpol insists that a civic life characterized by locally rooted membership organizations like the American Legion and the Elks has gone the way of the once-popular television program Leave It to

Introduction

Beaver.8 These localized groups, she says, have been replaced by such large nationally based advocacy organizations as the National Right to Life Com­ mittee and the National Abortion Rights Action League, which are hierarchic in structure and run by professional managers who are more oriented to the prime-time airways than the community forum. Skocpol laments that these staff-heavy organizations-preoccupied with lobbying, research, and media projects-provide few opportunities for membership activity. It appears that the most significant contribution most members make to the overall goals of the association is financial. Writing a check has replaced the regularized face-to­ face political activity that once characterized local community life. The replacement of localized membership associations dedicated to the gen­ eral betterment of face-to-face communities by a new assortment of national interest groups focused on the promotion of a particularized political agenda is exactly what other observers have in mind when they say that Americans have lost their sense of common purpose. In a widely read book that appeared sev­ eral years ago, Michael Sandel decries an impoverished vision of citizenship that afflicts Americans of all political persuasions, with conservatives distrust1� ing government and liberals skeptical of the search for common values. He de­ scribes the United States as a procedural republic, absent a public philosophy, , that does no more than mediate individual and group differences. 9 The legal scholar Mary Ann Glendon agrees; she portrays a political culture in which people are more absorbed in securing their own rights and claims against the state than wondering what they might do to contribute toward its overall good. 10 On a more positive note, Francis Fukuyama assures us that the moral and communal corrosion America suffered during the final decades of the last cen­ tury-what he calls "The Great Disruption" -was a temporary condition that will inevitably be reversed. 1 1 While accounting for multiple signs of social dis­ solution in the recent past-increased crime, a weakening family structure, de­ creasing trust-Fukuyama ultimately puts his faith in the sociability of human nature, which he believes compels people to create norms that bind us together and allow us to live and work with each other cooperatively. Whether civil society in America is in the process of degeneration or regen­ eration, whether the values that serve as the foundation for democratic gover­ nance have been lost forever or are undergoing a healthy readjustment to changing conditions, there are sure signs about the present situation that can­ not be ignored or denied. Over the past forty years Americans have become more cynical about politics and less likely to participate in elections. Increas-

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ingly they do not have confidence that their representatives in office will act re­ sponsibly and "do the right thing. " When asked, most Americans say that they perceive politicians as puppets of powerful interests rather than high-minded leaders devoted to a worthy cause. 12 Political activism, manifested recently through the initiative, referendum, and other forms of direct popular action, has been antigovernment in spirit, launched either to revolt against taxes, im­ pose term limits on incumbents, or break the hold of political fund donors. And even these forms of direct democracy have been greatly influenced by powerful organized interests. 1 3 No doubt the impeachment crisis of the Clin­ ton years and the disputed presidential election of 2000 will contribute to ad­ ditional public cynicism about our political leaders and institutions. By the middle of the last decade, two national panels were established to study how Americans could revitalize civil society. The National Commission on Civic Renewal was a bipartisan effort cochaired by William Bennett and Senator Sam Nunn; its executive director was the political theorist and former Clinton adviser William Galston. 14 The Council on Civil Society, still in oper­ ation after delivering its final report, is chaired by Jean Bethke Elshtain of the University of Chicago. 15 The analyses, recommendations, and even member­ ship of the two panels overlapped. Both expressed deep concern about the quality of our civic life, with the NCCR addressing itself to issues of civic re­ newal through the revitalization of community institutions, and the ccs focus­ ing on moral renewal and the development of fundamental beliefs that make democracy possible. 16 THE ROLE OF EDUCATION

It should come as no surprise that there has been an outpouring of literature on the subject of civil society and its relation to America's democratic aspirations. Among the many publications on this topic that have appeared in recent years, several chronicle a range of civic activities observable in distinct communal set­ tings. 17 Others discuss the issue within a moral domain, some of them carrying reminders that, with the sprouting up of antisocial groups like private militia, not all collective social action leads to desirable outcomes. 1 8 Still others, mark­ ing civil society's importance as a subject of scholarly inquiry, trace the evolu­ tion qf the concept as an intellectual and historical phenomenon. 19 But with a few notable exceptions, the subject is seldom treated in relation to education. Among the few studies that have considered education and civil society, each assumes a different point of emphasis, all of which are considered in this book.

Introduction

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Building on an extensive body of prior research, Norman Nie and his col­ leagues provide an empirical analysis of the relation between educational achievement and civic participation.20 In a historical and philosophical study of the common school, Stephen Macedo makes a case for public schools as wellsprings of civic virtue in a diverse society but also supports private school choice as a way to provide better opportunities for inner-city children in failing public schools. 21 Approaching the subject from the perspective of law and po­ litical theory, Rosemary Salomone argues that the traditional common school model has become obsolete in an increasingly pluralistic society where people have diverse values. 22 Marion Orr and Wilbur Rich have written case studies explaining how and why the accumulation of black social capital in urban communities has not been converted into meaningful school reform. 23 Two earlier works demonstrated the limited efficacy of civic education in American schools. 24 Ever since the late nineteenth century, Americans have relied upon govern­ ment schools as a principal purveyor of deeply cherished democratic values. For many generations of immigrants, the common school was the primary teacher of patriotism and civic values. Many came to see the common school as the guarantor of the nation's promise of democracy and freedom. At the end of the twentieth century, however, there was widespread concern about whether the schools were continuing to fulfill that role. 25 For a variety of reasons, the public schools seemed to have relinquished their historic role as agencies of civic assimilation. Instead, they were actively fostering policies that encouraged students to identify with their race or their ethnic or cultural origins rather than with the overarching civic ideals of the American community. 26 /(} · In the 1980s and 1990s many public schools embraced diversity as their mis� sion at the cost of civic assimilation. In doing so they taught children to iden­ tify with their own ancestral heritage rather than a common stock of American ideals. The rise of multiculturalism as an ideology directly conflicted with the . ) public school's once-prized mission of civic assimilation. As the pu� v-J� "''l _ x shi__fted from being the central agency for promoting civic understanc!i!!.g1._� be- �o ing an agency for sponsoringEcial, .. ethnic, and cultural identizy. faith in the �lie school ideal weakened. Because Americans have typically believed that their public schools played a key role in building the moral foundation for a robust democracy, there were inevitably questions about whether the schools' faltering commitment to civic assimilation was in some way connected to the decline of our civic spirit. 'Proponents of civics education have rightly complained that the teaching of

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civics has not had a secure place in the schools, whether public or private. A na­ tional assessment of students' knowledge of civics and government released by the U.S. Department of Education in 1999 showed that most American youths have a weak grasp of the principles that underlie the U.S. Constitution and lack a basic understanding of how government works. 27 A little more than 20 per­ cent of the students in each of the grades that took the test (fourth, eighth, and twelfth) scored at the "proficient" level. These results indicated that our schools-both public and nonpublic-are not preparing young people with the civic knowledge needed to function as informed citizens. Nor have schools done a very effective job of instilling or nourishing the val­ ues that form a disposition toward responsible citizenship. Educators have avoided taking up controversial moral questions in the classroom for fear that they will offend the sensibilities of one group or another, or trespass into areas of discussion that are wholly private prerogatives. This reluctance echoes the re­ cently fashionable idea in higher education that everything is relative, simply a matter of taste or preference, and that truth is a social construct, existing only in the eye of the beholder. Such attitudes teach yqnog peo�_ther