Joel Westheimer in his On the Relationship between Political and Moral Engagement, aims to “share some reflections on the role of schools in teaching students how to be democratic, politically-engaged, and ethical citizens”. (2008, p.17) He focuses on the relationship between political engagement and moral education. He first questions the moral education, as he sees it against the “goals of independent thinking and critical engagement with ideas”. The “character education” teaches students to obey authority rather than thinking independently, which is against the spirit of democracy.
Westheimer suggests moral educator to consider the general inquiry of “How should I live?” as a central question during their practice. He and his colleague Joseph Kahne categorize and summarize three types of good citizens：1. the personally responsible citizen: they may contribute time and/or money to the community, and they usually have the good qualities such as “honesty, integrity, self-discipline, and hard work”. 2. the participatory citizen: they are active in civic affairs in broader levels, and better understand how government and other institutions work. Compared with first type of citizens, they take more initiative in driving and organizing charitable causes. 3. the justice-oriented citizen: they care and question “fairness, equality and democratic engagement”, (p.21) and they can critically examine the social and political issues and seek for changes to address the social problems and to improve the society that they are part of. Westheimer gives great example of this type of citizens instead or in addition to donate food, would question why people are hungry, how to fundamentally solve the problems etc. In his studies, Westheimer sees the emphasis of moral education on individual character and charitable acts, but he believes it is “an inadequate response to the challenges of educating a democratic citizenry”, instead it may work against the democratic spirit. “The hidden curriculum is how to please authority, not how to develop convictions and stand up for them”. (p.22) Westheimer stresses that the education to be personally responsible and participatory is needed, but is not enough, but the justice-oriented citizens are aspired by democratic societies although it is not often emphasized in the current moral education. He supports his points by giving examples of moral education in schools in the United States on how to encourage the justice-oriented citizenship and how challenge it is.
I found the reading not only inspiring, but also warning. The three types of citizenship seem to be familiar, but Westheimer presents the theory in a clear and easy way, with vivid examples and with comparison. The only pity is that all the examples are from the United States, not from Canada. I understand from the reading that Westheimer is from New York; however, it makes me wonder if we can generalize the situation in Canada. The three types of citizens probably are similar, but how about the moral education in Canada? Can we assume it is the same, despite we often do not want to be seen homogenous as the Americans?
Moral education is not stranger to me. In China, we start with Morals and Life, Morals and Society in primary schools, and Morals and Politics in secondary school. This is the compulsory course that all Chinese students have to take, and this is one of the reasons why Chinese citizens are not allowed to attend international schools from Grade 1 to 9. Even in university, we need to take Ideological and Moral Cultivation to salute the theories of our great former leaders. Looking back, many criticize that the Chinese government is using the moral education to brainwash the students of following the Chinese communist party, to obey the authority, to become the citizens that the government wants you to become. Is there much difference in the scenario that Westheimer depicts in democratic states, except it might be more subtle?
Westheimer also argues that in moral education, students are not required to think critically, but to know the facts. Some teachers in my previous classes mentioned that there is always addition to the curriculum when there is a new government, as they want to add things they think are important to the students. So who defines facts? Whose knowledge is the official knowledge? I am also wondering how teachers adapt to this “special” requirement, given for all other subjects, teachers are trying to promote critical thinking, problem solving, and inquiry based education. How can teachers in maths and physics class tell students to think out of the box, to find the real life problem and solve them, to find the answers themselves, and then come to the moral education class to tell the students accept what the teachers, the government and the country wants them to do, and the good things that these authorities believe are good? There is probably no easy answer, as education is “both a moral and political enterprise”. (p.25)
Hi Feifei,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughtful posing.
Reading what you wrote about how students are taught in China resonates with me because it makes me think of how Omani students receive their education. In Oman, schools merely prepare students for standardized tests and sometimes force teachers to follow curricula of received wisdom and false information. However, in a democratic community such as Canada, schools encourage students to open their minds and think about the whole world around them. Moral education and Islamic studies, which emphasize that students have to obey the Sultan in order to become good and loyal citizens, are compulsory courses in Oman. Thus, I personally agree with Westheimer (2008) on the subject that education is "both a moral and political enterprise" (p. 25).
Best regards,
Said Al-Badri
Great points Feifei! I really enjoyed reading your posting. - I also find that the way democratic states use moral education is a subtle way to become the citizen the government wants you to be. In my experience, and having worked with several non governmental organizations in Latin America, our governments (Central and South America) promote a very similar agenda.
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