{"title":"Civic Engagement and Resisting “Docile Bodies” in Postsecondary Education","authors":"D. Stewart","doi":"10.1177/01614681231181795","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Background/Context: Robust civic engagement by young adults supports the aims of a democratic society, as well as college- and university-espoused commitments to the public good. Civic engagement also benefits students themselves. Although voting participation among young adults has shown modest increases from 2016 to 2020, work remains to be done to help youth become more engaged in civics. Postsecondary education has the tools to support this engagement among college students. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: Postsecondary education has long sought to support young adults to participate in democratic society, despite the current dominance of a neoliberal focus on career and socioeconomic mobility outcomes. A realignment of goal-setting is necessary to recognize the need to do more than produce “docile bodies” for a neoliberal and capitalist labor market. Yet, colleges and universities struggle to center equity goals that would support radical democratic engagement. Research Design: This article is a philosophical analysis of the intersection of civic education, democracy, and equity in the postsecondary curriculum. Conclusions/Recommendations: The article concludes with four policy recommendations: (1) access to federal and state funding for postsecondary institutions for civic engagement initiatives; (2) support for the freedom to learn and the freedom to teach material grounded in equity principles, including critical race theory; (3) assessing civic education as a core learning outcome through collaborations between postsecondary education and government initiatives; and (4) protecting the methods by which young adults in college can participate in the electoral process.","PeriodicalId":48274,"journal":{"name":"Teachers College Record","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Teachers College Record","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681231181795","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background/Context: Robust civic engagement by young adults supports the aims of a democratic society, as well as college- and university-espoused commitments to the public good. Civic engagement also benefits students themselves. Although voting participation among young adults has shown modest increases from 2016 to 2020, work remains to be done to help youth become more engaged in civics. Postsecondary education has the tools to support this engagement among college students. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: Postsecondary education has long sought to support young adults to participate in democratic society, despite the current dominance of a neoliberal focus on career and socioeconomic mobility outcomes. A realignment of goal-setting is necessary to recognize the need to do more than produce “docile bodies” for a neoliberal and capitalist labor market. Yet, colleges and universities struggle to center equity goals that would support radical democratic engagement. Research Design: This article is a philosophical analysis of the intersection of civic education, democracy, and equity in the postsecondary curriculum. Conclusions/Recommendations: The article concludes with four policy recommendations: (1) access to federal and state funding for postsecondary institutions for civic engagement initiatives; (2) support for the freedom to learn and the freedom to teach material grounded in equity principles, including critical race theory; (3) assessing civic education as a core learning outcome through collaborations between postsecondary education and government initiatives; and (4) protecting the methods by which young adults in college can participate in the electoral process.
期刊介绍:
Teachers College Record (TCR) publishes the very best scholarship in all areas of the field of education. Major articles include research, analysis, and commentary covering the full range of contemporary issues in education, education policy, and the history of education. The book section contains essay reviews of new books in a specific area as well as reviews of individual books. TCR takes a deliberately expansive view of education to keep readers informed of the study of education worldwide, both inside and outside of the classroom and across the lifespan.