Scholars Joel Westheimer and Joseph Kahne (2004) describe three types of citizens, the personally responsible citizen, the participatory citizen and the justice oriented citizen, in their article What Kind of Citizen? I believe I have been exposed to all three throughout my studies, from Kindergarten to University! To begin, it is important to understand each type of citizen described by Westheimer and Kahne (2004) and my relationship with each type. Please explore the definitions provided below: The Personally Responsible Citizen: To improve society, citizens must have good behaviour. "Programs that seek to develop personally responsible citizens hope to build character and personal responsibility by emphasizing honesty, integrity, self-discipline, and hard work" (p. 3). These types of citizens would "[contribute] to food ... drives when asked" (p. 3). This has been the most emphasized type of citizen throughout my educational journey, but most prominently within primary school. Whether it be the classroom rules (be kind, share, listen quietly, etc.) that were stated and visually presented each school year or the classroom community volunteer experiences (visiting the retirement homes in town to sing or visit with the elderly, volunteering for school jobs like cross walk duty or lunch hour phone duty), it was clear the type of citizen we were being shaped to be. The Participatory Citizen: To improve society, individuals must actively participate and take leadership positions in collective community efforts. Programs that seek to develop participatory citizens "focus on teaching students how government and community based organizations work and about the importance of planning and participating in organized efforts to care for those in need" (p. 4). Unlike the personally responsible citizens who would donate to a food drive, "the participatory citizen might organize the food drive" (p. 4). This type became more emphasized in my learning journey as we got older. For example, a student council (SRC) allowed students to organize events, fundraisers, etc. for the school community. The council was ran and organized by students, allowing the group of students to get familiar with running meetings and making decisions about what is important in the community. While this type of citizenship had a higher presence in my middle and high school years, the main focused remained on being a responsible, well-behaved individual. The Justice Oriented Citizen: To improve society, citizens must question, debate and change established systems and structures that reproduce injustice. This "least commonly pursued" (p. 4) program "[wants] students to consider collective strategies for change that challenge injustice and, when possible, address root causes to problems" (p.5). While the prior two types of citizens are busy with the food drive fundraiser, "justice oriented citizens are asking why people are hungry and acting on what they discover" (p. 4). I am the least familiar with this type, but have been introduced to it throughout my first year as an education student. I have been challenged to uncover my own bias's and be aware of what I directly and indirectly communicate to my future learners; further, I have been asked to challenge the curriculum and traditional teaching methods. As pre-service educators we are asked to look at what is not working and then change it! We are asked to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, and then asking our future students to do the same in order to teacher generations of superheros. Personally responsible and participatory citizens typically value acts of compassion and kindness over social action. Students are taught a commonsensical framework of beliefs about their roles, behaviours and responsibilities in their specific society. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with teaching young learners to be good people in their community, we would be doing them an injustice by not giving them the tools to critically examine the world around them. These citizens are taught to be kind and to always lend a helping hand; however, they are not taught to question social injustices around them. For example, students in these programs may not question the often commonsensical, white-washed version of history taught in schools. As we have seen through our learnings from Kumashiro (2009), commonsensical thinking can and will lead to oppressive thoughts and behaviours. This furthered oppression may be avoided by using a justice oriented approach in the classroom. Students within a justice oriented program are encouraged to ask the big questions and critique society. They go beyond recognition and questioning as they analyze and offer explanations and solutions to social problems. In 2017, 50,000 people joined in Vancouver to complete the "Walk for Reconciliation in the Spirit of "We are all One."" The 50,000 diverse participants may have been shaped by their educational environment to a be personally responsible citizen, while the people that organized the walk were shaped to be participatory citizens. The justice oriented citizens may have been involved and/or participated in the reconciliation event, they go a step further. For example, the removal of the John A. MacDonald statues that represent decades of abuse and colonization. With that being said, I hope to embrace a justice-oriented approach in my future classrooms. My goal is to enable my future students with the tools to question and critique the imagined community that dictates what it means to be Canadian. I envision a future brighter than today, and will do all in my power to achieve it. Resources: Kumashiro, K. (2009). Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning Toward Social Justice. Westheimer, J. & Kahne, J. (2004). What Kind of Citizen?: The Politics of Educating for Democracy. 41(2), 26. https://www.civicsurvey.org/sites/default/files/publications/what_kind_of_citizen.pdf
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
About the Author: Jordyn NeufeldJordyn is an Education student at the University of Regina. She enjoys camping in the summer and trying to stay warm in the winter. Coffee is her favourite drink and a necessity most mornings. She loves cuddling her cats and being surrounded by her family. Please take a look into my educational journey within ECS 210. Archives
April 2020
|