HOW DO FRIENDS SCHOOLS UNDERSTAND AND CULTIVATE GOOD CITIZENSHIP?

Brad Gibson

Background

In the Friends School Mullica Hill mission statement, the school identifies the cultivation of “responsible global citizens” as a central aim. This is not unusual; in fact, it is more unusual to fnd a school (Quaker or otherwise) that does not identify developing good citizens as a primary goal. And yet, there is little scholarship on how schools define good citizenship or specific pedagogical approaches to effective civic education. Furthermore, when educators are asked what makes a good citizen, there is a wide range of responses that emphasize disparate (and sometimes contradictory) civic values.

As a civics teacher over the past eleven years, I have developed my own sense of the civic values that align with the mission of our school. Those core values include critical thinking, concern for others, civic efficacy, and political tolerance. However, this conception of citizenship was formed subconsciously and mostly through refections on my own practice and interpretation of school values rather than an intentional process that included mindful collaboration with fellow educators. Therefore, my action research on civic values and their development in Quaker schools was an attempt to broaden and deepen my own practice through exploring this question with Friends educators, while also creating a framework for guiding other teachers and schools through this reflective process.

Exploration

Given the philosophical nature of my topic, I began with a review of the academic literature addressing how educators understand the purpose of civic education. Some teachers view civic learning simply as reinforcing norms of personal responsibility: obeying laws, paying taxes, and demonstrating honesty and patriotism as privately oriented citizens. Others see civic learning as emphasizing participatory democracy as they try to cultivate knowledge of and faith in political institutions by demystifying political processes and encouraging voting. The conception of civic education closest to my understanding of good citizenship is a justice-oriented view that emphasizes critical thinking in recognizing structural inequities and taking collective action.

With these different perspectives on civic learning in mind, I began to speak with people representing a number of different constituencies in Quaker schools and organizations in order to identify common threads and points of departure. I gathered refections from older students about their civic attitudes developed in class, spoke with many teachers and administrators at my own school, and with the help of my FCE leadership and cohort, identified members of Quaker organizations (such as FCNL) and civics, history, social studies, and Quaker studies teachers to interview from other Friends schools.

One important discovery in this process was that Friends educators and students, perhaps unsurprisingly, have unique perspectives on questions of citizenship that are deeply personal and defy easy categorization. Some teachers could not identify essential civic values of their classes because they understood good citizenship to be ingrained in the culture of the school. Indeed, many students echoed this sentiment when they reported that the ideas of citizenship emphasized in their civics classes, such as tolerance and stewardship, were already internalized early on during their time at the school. On the other hand, many teachers did identify specific civic values that guided their work, though these key concepts varied widely. Some teachers, often in younger grades, understood kindness and respect as the essential characteristics of citizenship, while others emphasized the importance of empowering students to find their voice and act with integrity. While each of these values have their merit, they can easily come into conflict. For example, it is not difficult to imagine a situation where a student who showed integrity by refusing to compromise her values and used her voice to call out injustice might be seen by others as lacking the sense of respect and tolerance they most value in citizens. As a result of this diversity of perspectives, I had to amend my initial aim of identifying a clear and unifying set of civic values that could provide a sense of coherence to citizenship development at Friends schools.

Next Steps

Though Friends educators may not be able to articulate the civic values developed at their schools with a sense of clarity and precision, that certainly does not mean that citizenship skills are not being developed or that teachers are not putting a great deal of thought and care into this development. Instead, it simply suggests that Friends educators are rarely asked to think about their programs in the specific terms of the development of citizens. Plenty of focused attention is paid to related skills (academic, social-emotional, 21st century, etc.), but generally not in the context of how these competencies could be employed in the service of citizenship.

Therefore, a next step for this project is to use the information gathered through this process to create a resource that would allow all Friends educators, myself included, to be more thoughtful and intentional in our approach to teaching citizenship. To begin the process of creating this resource, I am planning on leading teachers in my own school in an examination of our civic education program. However, given that we are in the midst of the major task of writing our reaccreditation self-study, we are holding this exploration until the staff has sufficient time and energy for the careful consideration it deserves. I have also had preliminary discussions with Friends Council about the possibility of making a pamphlet or set of guidelines on this topic that could be used as a reference for school leaders, which would be drafted after gathering feedback and insight from a few training sessions. In the meantime, I am still talking to Friends educators about my topic and ideas for moving forward in the spirit of continuing revelation. Ultimately, the goal of this training or guide would be to encourage Friends school communities to more clearly articulate how they answer the questions of what civic values they teach and how they teach them. The implementation of such a reflective process on civic learning is not merely a matter of sound pedagogical practice, but rather, it is central to the mission of all Friends schools.

BRAD GIBSON

Middle School Lead TeacherFriends School Mullica HillMullica Hill, NJ

After spending ten years as a student at Friends School Mullica Hill, I returned as a teacher and administrator in 2013. have performed many roles throughout my time at the school, but one constant has been teaching the eighth-grade civics class. Though world events over the past decade have often left me searching for opportunities to make a greater impact in my own capacity as a citizen, it brings me great satisfaction to see my civics students joyfully engage in political action themselves. Indeed, teaching a civics class feels like a crucial opportunity to empower young people to fnd their voice and respectfully advocate for a more just society.