it is very needed today. democracy in real sense SUDHAKAR N S SNR.LECT. DIET, Chitradurga.
On Mon, Mar 18, 2019 at 11:47 AM Sudhakar NS <[email protected]> wrote: > > SUDHAKAR N S > SNR.LECT. > DIET, HAVERI. > > > On Sun, Feb 3, 2019 at 1:37 PM IT for Change - Education < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Dear Social Science teachers, >> sharing an article (a book review) worth reading and thinking about ... >> regards >> Guru >> >> Education’s most important job is to teach students to take an active >> role in their democracy, starting in their own communities. >> >> Albert W. Dzur <http://bostonreview.net/author/albert-w-dzur> >> >> >> http://bostonreview.net/education-opportunity/albert-w-dzur-teaching-citizenship >> >> *Awakening Democracy Through Public Work: Pedagogies of Empowerment* >> >> Harry C. Boyte with Marie Ström, Isak Tranvik, Tami Moore, Susan >> O’Connor, and Donna Patterson - Vanderbilt University Press, $24.95 >> (paper) <https://www.vanderbilt.edu/university-press/book/9780826522184> >> >> For decades, political theorist Harry Boyte has been a pioneer of >> community-level, direct democracy. His central thesis is that democracy is >> “public work,” “sustained, uncoerced effort by a mix of people who create >> things of lasting civic or public significance.” This perspective invites >> people of all walks of life and professions to consider how, in their daily >> routines, they can contribute to a stronger, more supportive, and more >> participatory social environment. Boyte describes his view of citizenship >> as “an approach . . . in which *citizens are co-creators, builders of >> the common world, not simply voters and volunteers who fit into that world >> or protestors who oppose it*.” He has been honing these ideas since his >> college days, when he was field secretary to Martin Luther King, Jr., in >> the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and encountered the southern >> citizenship schools that arose from the civil rights movement. In his new >> book, *Awakening Democracy Through Public Work*, Boyte, now a senior >> scholar, offers a mature introduction to his thinking on citizen action, >> social change, and civic education. >> >> Civics education rarely teaches that ground-level citizen action is >> integral to having healthy communities. Democracy is something that happens >> elsewhere, and only to adults. >> >> Central to *Awakening Democracy Through Public Work *is Boyte’s belief >> that education’s most important role is to teach children and young adults >> how to be good citizens. Boyte focuses in particular on the Public >> Achievement program he and his co-authors have developed into an >> international network. (The book is dedicated to Boyte’s colleague Dennis >> Donovan, whose school, St. Bernard’s Elementary School, was the first >> experimental site for Public Achievement.) Most U.S. public schools used to >> offer some basic training in citizenship through civics courses that taught >> political history and basic facts about democratic institutions and the >> Constitution. Increasingly these programs, meager as they were, have been >> jettisoned by schools to make more space for STEM and teach-to-the-test >> curricula—but even when such basic civics education is still offered, it >> rarely seeks to convey the importance of ground-level citizen action to the >> functioning of healthy communities and institutions. Democracy is something >> that happens elsewhere, and only to adults. >> >> Boyte’s Public Achievement program for K–12 youth adopts a very different >> model. In it, “teams of young people . . . work over the school year on >> issues they choose. Their issues must be legal, tackled nonviolently, and >> make a public contribution.” At the beginning of the year, students hold an >> “issues convention” to discuss and prioritize the problems people most want >> to address during the year; then they form teams to work on them. Though >> the youth are coached by college students affiliated with Public >> Achievement, the priorities, strategies, and work are their own. >> Opportunities to hold positions of real responsibility—or for that matter >> fail (in ways that are instructive)—are therefore significantly greater >> than in service-learning programs that offer students ready-made volunteer >> roles. As Boyte puts it, “In Public Achievement, young people are conceived >> as co-creators, citizens today, not simply citizens-in-waiting. They help >> to build democracy in their schools, neighborhoods, and society.” >> >> My favorite example of Public Achievement in the book comes from a >> Minneapolis public school. >> >> One team of eight boys, including Mexican immigrants, Native Americans, >> and European Americans, expressed anger at the state of their bathroom. The >> stalls had no doors. Toilet paper and other supplies were missing. The >> walls were covered with obscenities. They named themselves “the Bathroom >> Busters” and decided to remedy the mess. Two coaches helped them to >> understand the issue in public terms larger than the bathroom itself. They >> decided, after discussion, that the issue was twofold: students’ disrespect >> for common property and the school system’s disrespect for students. >> >> In taking on this problem, the team had to learn how to deal with school >> bureaucracy, wrangle funding from district offices, gain the assent of >> union representatives—in short, do politics. But they also had to learn how >> to work with students who were not interested in Public Achievement. Though >> the bathrooms were fixed by the end of the year, the problems returned the >> next year as graffiti started showing up on the walls. So, the team started >> meeting with other kids in the school to develop a plan. What emerged was a >> mural created by the students for the bathroom walls, which remained >> graffiti free. >> >> What I like so much about this story is not that it was a success but >> that it reveals what kids can contribute to the everyday functioning of a >> highly institutionalized domain such as an urban public school. There are >> always scarcities, differences of opinion, and hierarchies of power and >> authority, even in the best funded and most well-run organization. To learn >> how to deal with these in a constructive way should be the essence of >> democratic education. Notice, too, that a problem that could have easily >> been labeled a “disciplinary” or even “criminal” issue—and thus a police >> matter—was instead addressed by the students themselves, thus keeping their >> classmates clear of the criminal justice system. This is a self-taught >> lesson in how to create social order. >> >> In Public Achievement programs, problems that would otherwise be labeled >> “disciplinary” or “criminal” issues are instead addressed by the students >> themselves, thus keeping their classmates clear of the criminal justice >> system. >> >> One of the most important tools learned by students in a Public >> Achievement program is called “power mapping.” In power mapping, an issue >> is discussed by the group to determine who has a stake in it. Power mapping >> is a “relational practice,” notes Boyte, which “radically changes young >> people’s perception of ‘power.’ Rather than seeing power only as an >> abstract category (‘others have power; we are powerless’), participants >> discover many kinds of power, many different interests around any question, >> and many potential ways to go about tackling a problem.” Another tool >> taught in the program is called “public evaluation,” in which students >> debrief at the end of a team meeting to talk about what worked, what >> didn’t, and whether people are accomplishing tasks they have set out for >> themselves—a process of learning how to be accountable to others. In >> addition to these basic tools, Public Achievement is marked by a >> fundamental commitment to self-direction: “Teams usually begin their work >> by setting their own rules. . . . They give their teams names. . . . They >> develop mission statements. They designate and rotate roles—moderator, >> timekeeper, notetaker, evaluation leader, and others.” Unfortunately, >> schools often subtly—or not so subtly—discourage autonomy, equality, and >> voice; Public Achievement, by contrast, thrives on these. >> >> These are, of course, common practices in the worlds of community >> organizing and social movements. But public work differs from these other >> forms of citizen action. Boyte points out that social movements can be >> successful at mobilizing dissent and opposition while failing to develop >> the kinds of common interests and civic skills that can sustain collective >> efforts over time. A kind of “reductionist” and “Manichean politics” can >> emerge that “polarizes civic life, objectifies and abstracts ‘the enemy,’ >> erodes citizenship, communicates that politics is warfare, and narrows >> government to a ‘target’ for gaining resources, not a partner in problem >> solving.” Likewise, local community organizing efforts can sometimes >> neglect the role of non-local sources of power in blocking progress on >> solutions. Public work in this way is both hybrid and innovative, building >> on core aspects of historical organizing and social movement efforts while >> seeking broader impact than the former and deeper roots than the latter. >> >> At a time of great concern about the health of even established >> democracies, public work thinking offers a compelling diagnosis. Along with >> the blustering autocrats who are the obvious foes of democratic >> institutions, there is a more subtle and pervasive threat: a systemic way >> of thinking about politics and policy that places a premium on distance, >> expertise, and cool professionalism. Where the autocrat threatens democracy >> loudly, caging dissidents and investigating critics, the technocrat >> threatens it more quietly, creating the impression that the big problems >> facing society ought to be left to the people with degrees from the best >> schools. Boyte writes: >> >> Technocracy, control by experts, is accelerated by the efficiency >> principle and the digital revolution. It reifies settings that once served >> as sources of civic learning, turning not only schools but also >> congregations, local businesses, unions, nonprofits, and government >> agencies into service delivery operations. This dynamic renders civic life >> an off-hours activity in civil society, usually through volunteering or >> community service, which are experienced as oases of civic idealism and >> decency in a degraded world. A great challenge of our time is to develop a >> politics to enlist the broad energies of all citizen to address our >> multiplying challenges. >> >> If, as some suggest, it is anger at elites and the feeling of being shut >> out of meaningful decision-making that provide the greatest fuel for >> authoritarian politics, then the public work strategy of collective >> engagement and empowerment—beginning with the youngest citizens—may be the >> single best remedy. >> >> A key element of technocracy is the cultural capital generated by >> university credentialing and networks, and Boyte makes clear that colleges >> and universities have a critical role in awakening democracy. Public work >> thinking is a deep challenge to academic business as usual because no >> stand-alone center or program for encouraging “community engagement” will >> suffice. What is needed is a dramatic shift away from seeing citizenship as >> some kind of moral bonus, something to be done in the off-hours. This calls >> not so much for a shift in professional ethics as for a shift in practices: >> the current generation of academics must become sensitive to the >> debilitating effects of the technocratic world they have helped reproduce. >> They must also embrace the public dimensions of fields such as law >> enforcement, education, and health through horizontal collaborative >> relations with non-specialists. Augsburg University’s nursing program, for >> example, encourages that nurses pursue “meaningful interaction with ‘people >> living on the margins’” in the course of fulfilling their medical duties. >> >> Boyte’s vision for democratic renewal offers compelling remedies to the >> pervasive sense of dispossession felt by citizens across the ideological >> spectrum. >> >> Boyte’s vision for democratic renewal is invigorating, even as it raises >> important practical concerns. First is the chronic issue of how to embed >> practices such as those taught by Public Achievement into ongoing >> institutional environments without succumbing to tick-the-box bureaucracy. >> The program’s commitment to student autonomy helps here, but it will be >> good to learn more over time about how that commitment can be >> institutionalized in school systems without turning rigid. Second, it is no >> small challenge that the world of direct democracy is so distant from the >> world of finance capital. Many problems that harm local communities are not >> problems that can be realistically solved at the local level, but having an >> impact on politics at the federal, state, or even city level is >> increasingly difficult without deep pockets. Third, Boyte highlights mostly >> positive stories, but grassroots citizen politics can sometimes reject >> distant and aloof yet also sensible and useful expertise. Local, sometimes >> violent, conflicts over federal land management in the West come to mind. >> Do we have to take the good public work along with the bad for the sake of >> general democratic renewal? It is especially useful here for civic studies >> scholars to differentiate efforts that welcome in diverse forms of >> knowledge—working with rather than against professionals, for example—from >> those that shield themselves from critique. >> >> Regardless, *Awakening Democracy Through Public Work* offers compelling >> remedies to the pervasive sense of dispossession felt by citizens across >> the ideological spectrum—the sense that “our” institutions and politics do >> not have a meaningful place for us, that they move along without our help. >> We are informed and scolded by intellectuals, mobilized and asked for our >> vote or donations, but we are not treated as citizens who share >> load-bearing responsibility for law, policy, or community development. >> Boyte’s theory of public work and his practical Public Achievement program >> are critical for thinking about how institutions, politics, and public life >> might be recaptured in nonviolent, non-autocratic ways. >> >> Education Team >> IT for Change >> Bangalore >> www.ITforChange.net >> 080 26654134 >> >> -- >> ----------- >> 1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ. >> - >> https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform >> 2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ. >> - >> http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ >> 3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ >> ನೀಡಿ - >> http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy >> 4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ >> ತಿಳಿಯಲು - >> http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software >> ----------- >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "SocialScience STF" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > -- ----------- 1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ. - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform 2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ. -http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ 3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ - http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy 4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು -http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software ----------- --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SocialScience STF" group. 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