Spring 2003

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Civic Education at the Carl Albert Center

Gary W. Copeland

 

 

Along with teaching, research, and archival activities, the Carl Albert Center has, as part of its mission, promoting a wider understanding and appreciation of the Congress, American politics, and representative government. The Center has taken that role seriously from its inception in 1979. One of the most exciting things we do on a regular basis is the biennial Rothbaum Lecture in Representative Government. That lecture series has produced not only fine lectures but also a series of wonderful books on the topic. (See complete list below.)

During our twenty-plus years of existence, we have also undertaken other projects that promote the health of our representative democracy, including public and Internet exhibits, lectures, this publication, and teacher workshops.

We have recently, though, stepped up our attention to matters of civic education. Everywhere we looked we saw evidence of a need to help develop the awareness, skills, and motivation to be productive citizens, especially in young people.

There were a number of factors in our decision to promote more time and resources to civic education. One factor was the events of 9/11, which happened against a backdrop of citizen apathy (sometimes even alienation) and left us wondering how equipped the American public is to deal with such a crisis and with world events that threaten the core of our free society.

In truth, there is not much to wonder about. There has been a steady stream of reports that document the ignorance, apathy, and lack of skills of the American public, at large, or of young people, in particular. Some of those reports are summarized in Steve Janger's "Civic Education -- A Close Up Look," but the recently released "The Civic Mission of Schools" makes strong cases both that we have failed our young people and why school-based civic education is important. That report offers:

Americans under the age of 25 are less likely to vote than either their older counterparts or young people of past decades. Surveys have shown that they are not as interested in political discussion and public issues as past generations were at the same point in their lives. In addition there are gaps in young people's knowledge of fundamental democratic principles and processes. As a result, many young Americans are not prepared to participate fully in our democracy now and when they become adults.¹

Additionally, we are, of course, well aware of the growing body of work that suggests that Americans are increasingly disengaged and that the lack of social connectiveness may hinder our ability to operate well as a democratic polity. In fact, the 1999 Rothbaum lecture, delivered by Professor Theda Skocpol, addressed many of those issues directly. Her book, Diminished Democracy, which grew out of those lectures, has just been published by OU Press and argues:

The great civic transformation of our time has diminished America's democracy, leaving gaping holes in the fabric of our social and political life. . . . critical aspects of the classic civic America we have lost need to be reinvented - - including shared democratic values, a measure of fellowship across class lines, and opportunities for the many to participate in organized endeavors alongside the elite few.²

We also are aware of the concerns about a system where those who have a voice are atypical of the rest of society. It seems important that whatever the political and educational leadership in American society does -- it must reach beyond white suburbs to include people not normally reached by programs promoting civic learning.

            And we are aware that there is a nationwide movement to address these issues. The attention that civic education has recently received means that we may increase our understanding of what programs work in what way. We may better be able to ensure that the efforts of well-meaning individuals promoting service learning or other activities actual bear the fruit of citizens who more nearly meet our democratic ideal. Important research projects may help us determine what is effective and what is less effective. At the same time, governmental and philanthropic agencies are pushing forward and funding a wide range of projects. There is a sense that some coordination is needed among those who share similar goals.

            Having made a commitment to become more active in the area of civic engagement, we next had to decide what to do and we had to provide, at least to ourselves, some rationale for why we were engaged in a particular program. Specifically, we decided to undertake programming that we had a special capability to produce. Generally, that meant that projects we would undertake would reflect some of the special skills and interests of the faculty, staff, and students at the Carl Albert Center.

            More specifically, we feel that we need to be connected to an organization that considers the big picture of civic learning. We are fortunate to have been a charter member of the National Alliance for Civic Education (NACE), which now has over 200 individual and group members committed to advancing civic knowledge and education. Both their meetings and their web site (http://www.cived.net) have helped ground us and provide direction.

            Beyond that membership we have been actively engaged in three programs that we think are important. One program is part of a substantial national research effort to help determine what kind of program is most effective in meeting its goals. The other two programs are programs that reach out in important ways to traditionally underrepresented groups.

            In the first case, the Carl Albert Center is a partner with the Oklahoma Department of Education, through its Learn & Serve Program, in Project 540. (See http://www.project540.org/.) We are one of ten networks nationwide selected to participate in the high school civic education initiative sponsored by Providence College and funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Directed by Professor Richard Battistoni at Providence College under a two-year $3.4 million Pew grant, this program has reached over 130,000 students in a variety of states and types of schools. This project combines dedication to service learning with a research strategy to determine when and how high schools are more or less effective in promoting civic engagement and to help develop a national approach to enhance civic education. The substantial tasks of planning and coordinating have been led locally by Lisa Pryor of the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Becca Edington, one of our undergraduate students, and I have supported those efforts, with Becca helping to develop some strategies to focus the high school students involved.

            The general philosophy behind the project is to put students in charge. Rather than have a teacher or an authority figure assign a project to students, the plan for Project 540 is to have school-wide dialogues that brainstorm on problems, resources, and how students might make a difference. Listening to students talk about what concerns they have is, in itself, a lesson that students are not oblivious to the world around them. I have walked away from those dialogues impressed by how much students do see, but also sensing that they do not know how to address problems and they run the risk of quickly becoming alienated. If we can develop strategies to teach students the skills necessary for success and to help them maintain their commitment, then we will have gone a long way towards improving civic education in this country.

            Our other two projects are both aimed at encouraging and developing skills among those who are traditionally underrepresented and who do not normally have a strong voice in public affairs. The first of these projects is the partnership with Close Up discussed in the article by Steve Janger. This program, which will be run this spring and summer for the first time, aims to couple the great experience of participating in Close Up's Washington program with on-campus programs and learning in order to enhance understanding and skills development. The Carl Albert Center is working with Charles Tampio of Close Up to develop a curriculum, train workshop leaders, and develop learning models for student participants who will come to OU in June.

            The flagship of our civic education program is N.E.W. (National Education for Women's) Leadership. In this program, the Center joins a national training network of nine other colleges and universities and partners with the Center for the American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University in New Jersey. N.E.W. Leadership is designed to address the historic under-representation of women in political life, and through this initiative, the Center encourages and empowers undergraduate women to run for public office and consider careers in the public sector. Cindy Simon Rosenthal, the Carl Albert Center's associate director, is the project director for N.E.W. Leadership and has developed a model program to achieve those goals.

In the inaugural institute last summer, 33 undergraduate women from 13 institutions across Oklahoma participated in the residential leadership institute. The group included three University of Oklahoma students who had served as interns helping to put together the program. The cohort was racially diverse (about one third nonwhite), ranged in age from 19 to 42, came from communities as far-flung as Atoka, Enid, Tulsa and Altus, and represented a variety of majors and interests.

These 33 women were challenged, energized, and transformed. They spent a week bonding with one another and learning from a dynamic group of successful Oklahoma women that included U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange, former Tulsa mayor Susan Savage, former NASA engineer Donna Shirley, Native American artist and activist Dana Tiger, and current officeholders Lieutenant Governor Mary Fallin, Superintendent of Public Instruction Sandy Garrett, State Senator Angela Monson, (who also currently serves as president of the National Conference of State Legislatures), State Representative Susan Winchester, Corporation Commissioner Denise Bode, and Edmond City Mayor Sandra Gregg Naifeh.

Participants developed their personal skills, learned about women's historical and contemporary participation in politics and policymaking, and explored the demands of leadership in an increasingly diverse society. Sessions on women's history, negotiation, team building, communication skills, and organizing for grassroots action were well received. Kathy Kleeman, who observed the program on behalf of CAWP, noted: "On a scale from 1‑10, this program was at least an 11."

While N.E.W. Leadership draws upon the expertise and successful model originated by CAWP, we have modified and added curricular innovations that advance important themes in civic education. For example, the participants began their busy week with a scavenger hunt for women's history that served as a team building exercise as well as an opportunity to reinforce important themes in women's participation in politics and public policy. In addition, Rosenthal worked with Donna Shirley, former director for the Mars Rover Project, to develop a campaign simulation that reinforced the concept of leadership as a collective team enterprise and engaged students in the dynamics of campaign planning.

Finally, participants worked through a public policy role play written by Rosenthal specifically for N.E.W. Leadership and tying together many of the themes of the week. The role play, based on the Arkansas town of Rogers, features a community rich in civic resources and leadership but challenged to deal with significant social and demographic changes. In keeping with the need to think deeply about civic engagement, the role play invokes some of the lessons from John Gardner's On Leadership (1990). Gardner notes that community leaders must rise to the task of "knitting together" and need such skills as agreement building, networking, exercising non-jurisdictional power (e.g. dealing constantly with "groups over whom they have no jurisdiction"), institution building (e.g. creating institutions that enhance continuity and predictability and avoid micro-management), and flexibility.

The success of N.E.W. leadership was so great -- receiving, for example the Oklahoma Journal Record's recognition as a "program making a difference" -- that the Carl Albert Center decided to continue the program after the one-year grant from CAWP ended. Rosenthal has been assisted throughout by Jean Warner, a former Carl Albert Center Fellow who is now the program coordinator. Warner has been busily fundraising as well as working with Rosenthal to finalize plans for the second N.E.W. Leadership institute in May.

Our experiences with N.E.W. Leadership and our other programs have convinced us that the Center can play an important role in providing exciting and innovative civic education programs. But more importantly, we hope to be able to extend these experiences through research and curriculum.

 

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Notes

 

            1. The Civic Mission of Schools. 2003. A Report of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Circle: The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

2. Theda Skocpol. 2003. Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press: 254.

 

 

Gary Copeland is a professor of political science at the University of Oklahoma and serves as director and curator of the Carl Albert Center. He has taught a variety of courses in the American politics field. His research interests focus primarily on the relations between members of Congress and their constituents. He has published in several journals, including the Journal of Politics and Legislative Studies Quarterly. His most recent books are The Contemporary Congress (Wadsworth, 1999) with Matthew C. Moen; Parliaments in the Modern World: Changing Institutions (University of Michigan Press, 1994) with Samuel C. Patterson; and The Almanac of Oklahoma Politics 2002 with R. Keith Gaddie. Professor Copeland also serves as faculty advisor for OU POLL, a public opinion laboratory. He is a past president of the Southwest Political Science Association and a current member of the Norman Public Schools Board of Education. He received his B.A. degree in political science from Baylor University and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Iowa. After completing his doctoral degree, he was an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow.

 

 

The Julian J. Rothbaum Distinguished Lecture Series

Published by University of Oklahoma Press

 

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