WMNS 1103 Lecture 10: Eliminating the Civic Empowerment Gap

• School: Northeastern University
• Department: Women's/Gender/Sexualty Stdies
• Course: WMNS 1103
• Professor: Moya Bailey

Document Summary

Need to engage with students" constructions of history, civic membership, political legitimacy, and power relations. Need to recognize that students construct meaning independent of the meanings specified by curricula, textbooks, teachers, or other educational "authorities. Educators must overtly and intentionally engage with students" beliefs, attitudes, and narrative schema- adjusting instruction from school to school, class to class, and student to student. Educators must maintain a vision of desirable civic and political knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors that goes beyond what students enter with. What schools teach about the history of the united states and the world is only part- and not necessarily the most significant part - of what students know and believe about. Students learn civic and historical narratives from their families, neighbors, pastors, peers, and media. Even people who are thinking about more powerful forms of social education for children of color do not necessarily see the point of it for yow1g people in the majority group.