Democratic Citizenship

1. Democratic
Citizenship
Education

2. State and National Standards
• The theme of the
Alabama Course of
Study: Social Studies is
responsible
citizenship.
• The overall goal of social
studies education is
promoting the
development of
thoughtful, informed,
and responsible citizens.
• X. Civic Ideals and
Practices
• Social studies programs
should include
experiences that provide
for the study of the
ideals, principles, and
practices of citizenship in
a democratic republic.

3. • Hands, feet, heart, and mind definition of
democracy: a human invention that must
continually be reinvented, one generation
instructing the next on how to live together
freely and fairly. Democratic citizens
participate in this ongoing reinvention of
democracy.
• Democracy requires we educate children to
the ideals of democracy and encourage them
to work steadily to transform those ideals
into realities.
• Democratic citizenship is the opposite of
what the Ancient Greeks of Athens called
idiocy? What is meant by this?

4. Why citizenship education?
• Without democratic citizens, there can be no
democracy.
• The people themselves are expected to be the
government. “Government of the people, by the
people, and for the people.”
• Democracy is a fragile social system.

5. Citizenship Education Includes:
• Majority rule
• Respect for minority rights
• Care for the common good
• Protect one another’s freedoms
• Limit the size and reach of the government
• Additionally: Now that global warming is making
clear the shared fate of humans, the idea of
teaching students they are world citizens is
gaining support.

6. Six Dimensions of Democratic
Citizenship Education
• Deliberation
• Voting and Elections
• Community Service and Action
• Citizenship Knowledge
• Democratic Values
• Democratic Dispositions
• These six dimensions of citizenship should start
being taught in kindergarten (if not younger).

7. Deliberation...
• comes from the Latin, libra, for scale.
• is discussion for the purpose of making a
decision.
• can be said to be the foundation of
democratic citizenship.
• includes skills that need to be taught,
practiced, and learned.

8. Voting and Elections
• Voting is a culminating activity that comes after
thinking about the issues and candidates
• Voting is a civic duty
• Voting is hard won
• Voting should not be done casually
• Voting goes hand in hand with deliberation

9. Community Service and Action
• The real test of a social studies program
lies in the out-of-school lives of the
students.
• Community service activities bridge the
citizenship learning in school with
citizenship experiences in the community
and world.
• Both social and political action by citizens
are important for the health of democratic
communities.

10. School-based community
service helps students make
socially responsible decisions
about the problems and needs
in their community.

11. Citizenship Knowledge
• As educators, we need to strive to have
knowledgeable deliberators,
knowledgeable voters, and knowledgeable
community servants.
• Decisions are more intelligent and service
projects are more effective with a rich
knowledge about democracy and core
citizenship ideas.

12. Democratic Values
• Values are the ideas about the worth of
something.
• Democratic values are public or general
values (individual rights to life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness; the public or
common good; justice; equality of
opportunity; diversity; and responsibility).
• Ideas and practices are developed through
what is valued.

13. Citizenship Dispositions
• Dispositions, also known as attitudes, character
traits, and virtues. Teaching positive dispositions
is often known as character education or morals
education.
• Closely related to values (but one may value
honesty but only rarely behave honestly)
• Goal: to develop democratic character
• Character is:
• routinely exhibiting a trait
• our thoughts, values, words, and actions all rolled up into one
• who we are when no one is looking

14. Democratic Character
Democratic
Character
Responsible
Lawful
FairCivil
Courageous
Honest

15. Teaching Religion
• The First Amendment prohibits teaching
doctrinal religious beliefs but does not in any
way disallow the study of religion.
• The study of religion should be taught as a social
phenomenon of our culture, both past and
present. It is a part of who we are and the
events that shaped and continue to shape our
lives.
• The omission of teaching religion would leave a
distorted view of history and who we are as
citizens of the US of A.

16. References
Parker, W. C. (2017). Social studies in
elementary education. Columbus: Pearson.