Auburn and Bama Presidents have a Good Word
Would be great to have one of these discussions in NE Alabama
I had short but fascinating chat with Dr. Muse a couple years ago after a Kate Campbell concert.
Wayne Flynt was there.
From the Sunday, May 24 Bham News Oped pages:
Alabama Teachers' Institute: Schools must teach responsibilities of citizenship
Posted by David Mathews and Bill Muse May 24, 2009 2:04 AM
We aren't doing a very good job preparing young people to take on the responsibilities of citizenship. A recent report shows a majority of Americans failed a national test of civic literacy. And in 2002, a group of scholars, as well as the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement and the Carnegie Corp. of New York, voiced a clarion call for the need to revive a richer civic education in our schools....
Learning to be a citizen involves more than knowing how a bill is passed or the role of the various branches of government. Young people need to learn how they can be effective political actors themselves. Democracy isn't a spectator sport. A veteran of the American Revolution was asked how the experience had affected him. He said it made him realize he was part of the sovereignty of his country. His citizenship wasn't just a word; he had lived it.
Birmingham can be justly proud of leading the way to making citizenship a part of the life of every student.
For years, young people have had opportunities to develop deliberative skills in its classrooms, youth clubs and churches. These projects have used guides to public deliberation prepared by the Kettering Foundation for the National Issues Forums Institute. NIFI works with local organizations around the country to conduct deliberative forums in which citizens can learn about the difficult issues facing their community and the nation, and express their views about the most appropriate action to take. Students in our schools are a critical audience for these forums, as their teachers use deliberation to help them gain the skills they need to be effective citizens.
We are heartened by this new initiative in Birmingham. It holds much promise for energizing the national conversation on educating young people to become active citizens.
David Mathews is president of the Kettering Foundation and a former president of the University of Alabama.
E-mail: dmathews@kettering.org
Bill Muse is president of the National Issues Forums Institute and a former president of Auburn University.
I had short but fascinating chat with Dr. Muse a couple years ago after a Kate Campbell concert.
Wayne Flynt was there.
From the Sunday, May 24 Bham News Oped pages:
Alabama Teachers' Institute: Schools must teach responsibilities of citizenship
Posted by David Mathews and Bill Muse May 24, 2009 2:04 AM
We aren't doing a very good job preparing young people to take on the responsibilities of citizenship. A recent report shows a majority of Americans failed a national test of civic literacy. And in 2002, a group of scholars, as well as the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement and the Carnegie Corp. of New York, voiced a clarion call for the need to revive a richer civic education in our schools....
Learning to be a citizen involves more than knowing how a bill is passed or the role of the various branches of government. Young people need to learn how they can be effective political actors themselves. Democracy isn't a spectator sport. A veteran of the American Revolution was asked how the experience had affected him. He said it made him realize he was part of the sovereignty of his country. His citizenship wasn't just a word; he had lived it.
Birmingham can be justly proud of leading the way to making citizenship a part of the life of every student.
For years, young people have had opportunities to develop deliberative skills in its classrooms, youth clubs and churches. These projects have used guides to public deliberation prepared by the Kettering Foundation for the National Issues Forums Institute. NIFI works with local organizations around the country to conduct deliberative forums in which citizens can learn about the difficult issues facing their community and the nation, and express their views about the most appropriate action to take. Students in our schools are a critical audience for these forums, as their teachers use deliberation to help them gain the skills they need to be effective citizens.
We are heartened by this new initiative in Birmingham. It holds much promise for energizing the national conversation on educating young people to become active citizens.
David Mathews is president of the Kettering Foundation and a former president of the University of Alabama.
E-mail: dmathews@kettering.org
Bill Muse is president of the National Issues Forums Institute and a former president of Auburn University.
posted by foxofbama | 2:02 PM
1 Comments:
Matthews & Muse: Democracy isn't a spectator sport.
To the interest of Auburn, it was just that in the University of South Alabama's attempt to create a school of pharmacy (to address a need not being addressed by Auburn), which it now has, but as a branch of Auburn. But such is in keeping with Alabama; that is, regardless of location of an issue in the state, decisions are deferred informally, and in many cases Constitutionally, elsewhere, typically in Birmingham with sanctioning finalized in Montgomery.
How to get things done, say educationally, in Alabama: write an athletics appropriation bill in Birmingham, pass it off to Montgomery, and allow the elected local pols to place education "pork" in it (but for heaven's sake play down the educational nature of the pork or play up its role in making football players more able to win the SEC).
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