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Political Education in the Public Schools: The Challenge for Political Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2022

Abstract

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Type
Committee on Pre-Collegiate Education
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 1971

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References

1 Goldstein, Robert J., “The Elementary School Curriculum and Political Socialization” (unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Political Science, University of Chcago, undated), p. 19.Google Scholar

2 Ibid., pp. 19–20.

3 Joyce, Bruce R., “A Review of Textbook Materials,” in Social Studies in the United States, ed. by Benjamin Cox, C. and Massialas, Byron G. (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1967), pp. 2122.Google Scholar

4 Goldstein, “Elementary Curriculum,” p. 40.

5 Massialas, Byron G., “We Are the Greatestl,” in Social Studies in the United States, ed. by Benjamin Cox, C. and Massialas, Byron G. (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1967), p. 178.Google Scholar

6 Ibid., p. 179.

7 Massialas, “We Are the Greatest!,” quoting Barth, Harry, Moreland, Willis D. and Cline, Thelma, Citizenship and Government in Modern America (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966)Google Scholar, no page reference given.

8 Smith, Frederick R. and Patrick, John J., “Relating Social Study to Social Reality,” in Social Studies In the United States, ed. by Benjamin Cox, C. and Massialas, Byron G. (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1967), p. 111.Google Scholar

9 Smith, and Patrick, , “Social Study,” quoting Painter, Fred B. and Bixler, Harold H., Citizenship in Action (New York: Charles Scrlbner's Sons, 1962)Google Scholar, no page reference given.

10 Farnen, Russell F. and Bjork, Robert M., “The Teaching of Government,” (mimeographed—no date given)Google Scholar citing Shaver, James P., “Reflective Thinking, Values, and Social Studies Textbooks,” School Review 73 (Autumn, 1965), pp. 226–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11 John J. Patrick, “The Impact of An Experimental Course, American Political Behavior, On the Knowledge of Secondary School Students,” (paper presented at the 66th meeting of the American Political Science Association, Los Angeles, California, September 3–12, 1970), pp. 11–12.

12 Goldstein, , “Elementary Curriculum,” p. 36.Google Scholar Also Joyce, , “A Review of Textbook Materials,” p. 2628.Google Scholar

13 Goldstein, , “Elementary Curriculum,” p. 39.Google Scholar

14 Ibid., p. 39.

15 Goldstein, , “Elementary Curriculum,” quoting Ver Steeg, C., The Story of Our Country (Evanston: Harper and Row, 1965), p. 177.Google Scholar

16 Smith, and Patrick, , “Social Study,” p. 177.Google Scholar

17 Based on a count by the authors. The textbook is McClenaghan, William A., Magruder's American Government, (52nd ed.; Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1969).Google Scholar

18 Massialas, , “We Are the Greatest!,” p. 182.Google Scholar The text reviewed by Massialas is Ludlum, Robert C. et al. , American Government (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965).Google Scholar

19 Goldstein, , “Elementary Curriculum,” p. 23.Google Scholar

20 Ibid., p. 26.

21 Ibid., p. 28.

22 Ibid., pp. 29–34.

23 Goldstein, , “Elementary Curriculum,” p. 41 Google Scholar quoting Cutright, P. et al. , Living As World Neighbors (Teachers Edition), (New York: MacMillan, 1966).Google Scholar

24 Goldstein, , “Elementary Curriculum,” p. 41.Google Scholar

25 Smith, and Patrick, , “Social Study,” p. 113.Google Scholar

26 Steen, Ralph W. and Faulk, Odie B., Government By the People (Austin, Texas: Steeck Company, 1964), p. 68 Google Scholar quoted in Smith, and Patrick, , “Social Study,” p. 113.Google Scholar

27 Massialas, , “We Are the Greatest,” pp. 178–79.Google Scholar

28 Ibid., p. 182.

29 Ibid., p. 183.

30 McClenaghan, , American Government, p. 17.Google Scholar The text, however, excludes any discussion let alone analysis of the economic development and social well-being of people in England and Scandinavia. Further, the discussion of socialism is conveniently followed by a discomfiting picture of a child in a dentist chair as an illustration of socialized medicine. This, however, probably represents an improvement over the 51st edition where the same discussion was followed by a picture of English people standing in line in the rain waiting to be treated by the National Health Servicel The message, of course, is clear—socialized medicine is undersirable and leads to certain hardships.

31 Joyce, , “A Review of Textbook Materials,” p. 27.Google Scholar

32 Ibid., p. 26.

33 Ibid., p. 26. (Emphasis in the original)

34 This paragraph draws heavily from Patrick, John J., “Implications of Political Socialization Research for the Reform of Civic Education,” Social Education, 33:1 (January, 1969), p. 20.Google Scholar We would like to thank Professor Patrick for his permission to extensively paraphrase and quote his writings in this area.

35 Committee on Pre-Collegiate Curriculum Development in Political Science, Report of the Committee, “The Challenge of Pre-Collegiate Education,” PS (Summer, 1969), pp. 339–40.Google Scholar This committee was appointed in the Spring of 1969 by then President of the Association Professor David Easton. The Committee was charged with studying efforts to improve pre-collegiate political science curriculum already underway, and to identify needs and priorities for future curriculum development. The Committee members were: Paul Abramson (Chairman), Lee F. Anderson, Charles O. Jones, Howard Mehlinger, Jewel Prestage, George E. Von der Muhl, and L. Harmon Zeigler.

36 Smith, and Patrick, , “Social Study,” p. 117.Google Scholar

37 Ibid., p. 117.

38 Goldstein, , “Elementary Curriculum,” p. 44.Google Scholar

39 Ver Steeg, C., Story of Our Country, p. 370 Google Scholar, quoted in Goldstein, , “Elementary Curriculum,” p. 44.Google Scholar

40 Goldstein, , “Elementary Curriculum,” p. 44.Google Scholar

41 Hess, Robert D. and Torney, Judith V., The Development ot Political Attitudes in Children (Garden City, New York: Anchor Books, 1968), p. 248.Google Scholar

42 Westin, Allen and Murphy, Deann, “Civic Education in A Crisis Age: An Alternative to Revolution and Repression,” (mimeographed, September, 1970), pp. 2022.Google Scholar

43 Patrick, , “Implications of Socialization Research,” p. 16 Google Scholar citing Langton, Kenneth P. and Kent Jennings, M., “Political Socialization and the High School Civics Curriculum,” The American Political Science Review (September, 1968).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

44 Langton, Kenneth P. and Kent Jennings, M., “The Formal Environment: The School,” in Political Socialization by Langton, Kenneth P. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1969), p. 116.Google Scholar

45 See page 31a of “People Problems: Population, Pollution, Prejudice, Poverty, Peace,” Report of Poll No. 89 of the Purdue Opinion Panel (Measurement and Research Center, Purdue University, June, 1970) for a complete listing of the Purdue Opinion Panel Polls. See also, Remmers, H. H. and Franklin, Richard D., “Sweet Land of Liberty,” in Anti-Democratic Attitudes in American Schools ed., by Remmers, H. H. (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1963), pp. 6173.Google Scholar

46 Westin, and Murphy, , “Civic Education in A Crisis Age,” p. 2.Google Scholar

47 John De Cecco, “Curriculum for the Seventies: Social Science or Civic Education?” paper presented at the invitational conference, “Social Science Education: Lessons for the ′70's,” Phipps Conference Center, Denver University, Denver, Colorado, 1970, p. 6.

48 McClenaghen, , American Government, p. 126.Google Scholar (Emphasis in the original)

49 See, for example, Patrick, John J., Political Socialization of American Youth (Washington, D.C.: National Council for the Social Studies, Research Bulletin No. 3), pp. 27, 44.Google Scholar Mehlinger, Howard D., “The Study of American Political Behavior,” (Occasional paper from the High School Curriculum Center in Government, Indiana University, 1967 mimeographer).Google Scholar Dawson, Richard E. and Prewitt, Kenneth, Political Socialization (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969), pp. 155175.Google Scholar Almond, Gabriel and Verba, Sidney, The Civic Culture (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), pp. 352363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Havighurst, Robert and Neugarten, Bernice, Society and Education (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1962), p. 185.Google Scholar Sonnenburg, Helen, Lewis, , “The Teen-age Joiner and his Orientation Toward Public Affairs: A Test of Two Multiple Group Membership Hypotheses” (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Political Science, Michigan State University, 1962).Google Scholar The broader literature on socialization also contains references to the relationship between the school and individual classroom culture and the formation of students political attitudes and beliefs. See, for example, Patrick, John J., “The Impact of Civics Instruction on Political Attitudes and Beliefs,” The Challenge: Colorado Council for the Social Studies, XXIII (Spring, 1970), 3440 Google Scholar.; Clausen, John A., “Perspectives On Childhood Socialization,” in Socialization and Society, ed., by Clausen, John A. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1968), 130–82Google Scholar; Harvey, O. J., White, B. J., Prather, M., Alter, R. D., and Hoffmeister, J. K., “Teachers Belief Systems and Preschool Atmospheres,” Journal of Educational Psychology, 57 (1966), 373–81CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed; Ehman, Lee H., “An Analysis of the Relationship of Selected Educational Variables With the Political Socialization of High School Students,” American Educational Research Journal, (November, 1969), 559580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lippit, Ronald, “Improving the Socialization Process,” in Socialization and Society, ed., by Clausen, John A. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1968), 321375.Google Scholar; Maccoby, Eleanor E., “The Development of Moral Values and Behavior in Childhood,” in Socialization and Society, 227–70.Google Scholar Dimond, Stanley E., “Studies and Projects in Citizenship Education,” in Patterson, Franklin, ed., The Adolescent Citizen (Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press, 1960), p. 93.Google Scholar Berelson, Bernard and Steiner, Gary A., Human Behavior: An Inventory of Scientific Findings (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1964), p. 439.Google Scholar

50 Patrick, John J., Political Socialization of American Youth, (Washington, D.C.: National Council for the Social Studies, Research Bulletin No. 3, 1967), p. 27.Google Scholar

51 Patrick, , “Implications of Socialization Research,” p. 19.Google Scholar

52 Silberman, Charles E., Crisis in the Classroom (New York: Random House, 1970), p. 134.Google Scholar

53 Simpson, Elizabeth Leonie, Democracy's Stepchildren (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc., 1971), p. 2.Google Scholar

54 Westin, and Murphy, , “Civic Education in A Crisis Age,” pp. 23.Google Scholar