Civic Curriculum Proposal
Members of the Civic Education group developed a curriculum with civic education at its heart. These recommendations come out of their research into the strengths and weaknesses of similar program. This curriculum was written by high school students Wilfrin F, Moises S, Sofia G R, Olysa A, Bintou T, Bruce L, Justin N and Daniel V.
Purpose and Summary:
Our curriculum is designed to teach students the importance of advocating for their rights and using their voices within society. We believe that all people belong civically in a society, and as a result their voices must be heard. We can achieve this by redesigning the existing high school curriculum in New York City to prepare students for purposeful and effective civic education. Through our socratic seminar-style classes, activities and forms of study, students are able to pick a side of a topic and develop an argument for it. This allows them to use their advocacy and research skills to create a strong argument, which is a fundamental skill of a well-rounded civic leader. Overall our curricular goal is not only to make the youth aware of their political climate, but to also create well-informed civic leaders that use their power to make a difference within their community.
We believe this curriculum could create civically educated youth that are ready to engage with their communities in the beginning of their adulthood, regardless of the major they will be pursuing in college. The material taught in our curriculum merges academic and civic learning in order to provide both civic and career preparation without disregarding one for the other. Equal development of civic education across majors, communities, and schools is necessary and should not be subject to a school’s funding or location. We believe everyone deserves to be taught how to participate as members of their communities, regardless of where they go to school. Our curriculum embodies this mission by merging academic subjects--like English, History, Government and the Arts--while also incorporating civic activities in our Math and Science courses.
We propose using the following curricular lenses in order to develop students' civic knowledge and consciousness:
Main Learning Lenses
Authority and Democracy
- Explore the dynamic tensions between the government and the people
- Use skill-development to teach students why democratic participation is important
Law and Systemic Injustice
- Shine a light on under-represented and generally untaught topics in the education system regarding race and class
- Alongside this, teach a practical understanding of the American legal system
Critical Thinking
- Cultivate political initiative in students by making them aware of their role in the government.
Global Knowledge
- Students will be exposed to different cultures in order to demonstrate that the world sees itself through different lenses
- We believe this will improve the efficiency of American society's participation in the future.
- This is an element of the curriculum that is particularly well suited to a diverse city like New York
Learning Objectives By Year
During freshman year, students usually take foundation level classes to develop their academic abilities. The redesign for the freshman curriculum is still learning the high school basics of global history, language, math and science; however, these classes will include activities such as mock trials (history) and thought seminars based on introductory civic readings (english). Just like the NYS curriculum, global history will be taught before US history, as students can use their knowledge about the world and apply it as a way to see American history in a new lens.
After the foundations taught in freshman year, students are now ready to study a more specific, local lens of civic education. In this year, students will start learning more about rhetoric, US history, and may have the time to take elective classes to actually start applying their foundational skills. This in turn starts transforming civic education as a property of academics rather than being an extension of education.
This year students can peak their learning in their high school career. At this point they will be taking AP classes with harder academics, and this can be an opportunity to even more so immerse students in topics, readings and activities that reflect civic engagement. They can also choose to commit themselves to harder extracurricular projects such as capstone projects, engineering solutions to community projects, or joining debate and speech competitions that may help them inquire deeper in things they learn in class.
At this point during high school many students will already have earned all the credits required to graduate. We can transform school into a place where their talents, hobbies and skills can be developed to catapult them into their future careers. Civic engagement can transform into an applied practice rather than something embedded in education. Schools could offer new activities such as community engagement, community problem solving and higher studies of society, speech and democracy. This is where electives can become extremely relevant in developing a student's future engagement.
The Curriculum
History:
- US History
- Global History
- AP US History
- AP World History: Modern
Government:
- Government
- Economics (base level)
- AP Comparative Gov. and Politics
- AP Us Government and Politics
Liberal Arts:
- English
- Literature
- Art (different types)
- AP English Language and Composition
- AP Art History
- Ap English Literature and Composition
- AP Human geography
- AP Seminar
Engineering
- Community problem solving (create and design technical solutions to community problems)
Ethics and Philosophy
- Explore the philosophical foundations of society, freedom and politics (many F&C readings can be used for this class)
Civics and Social Engagement
- Practical classroom and community activities (for example: voter registration campaigns, social movement support and organizing community members to
Political Science (foundations)
- Teach political science foundations in both widespread global focus as well as the local community focus.
Poetry
- Poetry can serve as the artistic illustration of the world and society. With a poetry elective available, certain poems and artistic texts can be available for students to study.
- Journalism
- In this elective students will learn about free speech, press and its dynamics with different social topics and problems. With this can be included the current state of journalism in the world to give students a relevant lens.
“Just Mercy” Bryan Stevenson
"Freire's Banking model of education” Paulo Freire
“Defining Racism” Beverly Tatum
“The Constitution” Usa
“13th” documentary on Netflix.
“Poverty, by America” Matthew Desmond
“American Factory” documentary on netflix
“The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher” John Taylor Gatto.
“A Letter to Teachers” James Baldwin
“On The Social Contract” Jean Jaques Rousseau
“Trans-National America” Randolph Bourne
“Capitalism and Freedom” Milton Friedman
“Declaration Of Independence” Usa
“Magna Carta”
“Trial and Death of Socrates” Plato
“The Tragedy of The Commons” Garret Hardin
“Universal Declaration of Human Rights”
- What makes our curriculum different from NYS Civics for All curriculum?
- Our vision is to move on from basic foundations that currently characterize civic education, such as studying government, economics and language basics. The approach we seek is to educate students towards rhetorical awareness, agency, democratic participation and systemic consciousness. As a result, we make youth aware that civic participation is a focus of belonging in society writ large.
- What are the foundations of our curriculum?
- This curriculum is modeled on the Freedom and Citizenship summer program (seminars, readings and writing tutorials); the current NYS Civics for All curriculum, including its purpose and its flaws; and examples from other countries' (such as Germany) civic education models that have created successful and widespread youth civic engagement.