Political Education in the Elementary School: a Decision-Making Rationale
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This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 70-6748 COG AN, John Joseph, 1942- POLITICAL EDUCATION IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: A DECISION-MAKING RATIONALE. The Ohio State U niversity, Ph.D., 1969 Education, theory and practice University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan (£) Copyright by John Joseph Cogan ,1970 POLITICAL EDUCATION IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: A DECISION-MAKING RATIONALE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By John Joseph Cogan, B.S., M.A, ****** The Ohio State University 1969 Approved by College of Education ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This writer would like to extend hiB appreciation to all who provided guidance and help in any manner during the completion of this study. The writer is indebted immeasurably to his adviser, Professor Raymond H. Muessig, whose patient and continuous counsel made the completion of this study possible. Appreciation is also extended to Professors Robert E. Jewett and Alexander Frazier who served as readers of the dissertation. Finally, the writer is especially grateful to his wife, Norma, and hiB daughter, Susan, whose patience and understanding have been unfailing throughout the course of this study. ii VITA May 30, 19^2 . Born - Youngstown, Ohio 1 9 6 3. B.S., Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 1963-1965.... Elementary Teacher, Columbus Public Schools, Columbus, Ohio I965 ............ M.A., The Ohio State University, ColumbuB, Ohio 1965-1966 .... Graduate Assistant, College of Education, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1966-1967 .... United States Office of Education Fellow, Washington, D.C. Summer, 1967 . Acting Director, Consortium of Professional Associations for the Study of Special Teacher Improvement Programs (CONPASS), Washington, D.C. Autumn, 1967 . Director, Project II, Project IMPACT, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana 1968 ............ Teaching Associate, College of Education, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1968-1 9 6 9 .... Assistant Professor of Education, Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Elementary Education. Professor Loren Tomlinson Minor Fields: Social Studies Education. Professor Robert Jewett Curriculum, K-12. Professor Alexander Frazier iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS....................................... ii VITA ................................................... iii Chapter I. BACKGROUND OF THE S T U D Y ....................... 1 The Problem................................. 23 Justification of the S t u d y ................ 27 Organization of the Study ................ 29 II. A REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH AND LITERATURE IN POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION PERTINENT TO THIS STUDY ....................................... 30 Political Socialization in Historical Perspective.............................. 33 Conceptual Schemes ......................... 38 What the Research S a y s .................... 5^ Summary, Analysis, and Implications ........ 93 III. PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF YOUNG CHILDREN'S THINKING ................................... 105 IV. THE NATURE OF REFLECTIVE T H O U G H T ............. 135 V. A DECISION-MAKING RATIONALE................... 156 A s s e r t i o n s ................................. 157 The Rationale............................... 165 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................... 179 iv CHAPTER I BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Americans are a people very proud of their heritage. Since the mid-eighteenth century and the heavy influx of immigrants into this nation, the American school has played a significant role in the transmission of the historical, cultural, and political heritage of its people. Citizenship training has been and continues to be a major concern of the schools. Some believe that our schools have a greater responsibility than ever before in the development of democratic citizenship given the recent and continuing unrest, the open conflict between various segments of the society, and rapid Bocial and political change all about us. Schools in America teach children and youth political beliefs and behaviors directly or formally through planned instructional activities and imperceptibly or informally in such a casual manner without an awareness that any learning is taking place. A large portion of the formal elementary school social studies curriculum is oriented toward the inculcation of socio-civic and patriotic values. The development of democratic citizenship remains one of the most frequently cited objectives of the social studies curriculum at all levels, K-12. Several examples from leading scholars in the social studies field may help to illustrate this point. 1 2 The primary purpose of the social studies is to help produce people who participate effectively in the maintenance and improvement of society. Thus the ulti mate objectives of the social studies are the kinds of behavior embodied in good citizenship.1 The central purpose of the social studies is the development of personal socio-civic behavior that is compatible with the goals of democracy.2 The teaching of democratic values is the basic concern of the social studies curriculum.5 The main objective of the social studies is the same as it is for the total school program— the development of democratic citizens.^ The development of the telf-realization of the indivi dual and the improvement of society.5 The second goal of the social studies is to prepare citizens who can perpetuate and enhance their society. Unquestionably the American public expects its schools to provide a continuing supply of literate, informed citizens.6 Edgar B. Wesley and William H. Cartwright, Teaching Social Studies in Elementary Schools (Boston: D. C. Heath and Co., 1968), p. 33* 2 Maxine Dunfee and Helen Sagl, Social Studies Through Problem Solving (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc., 1966), p. 17. ^Malcolm P. Douglass, Social Studies: From Theory to Practice in Elementary Education (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1967)\ p. 15* (l John Jarolimek, Social Studies in Elementary Education (3rd ed.; New York: The Macmillan Co., 1967)» p. 5. ^William B. Ragan and John D. McAulay, Social Studies for Today*s Children (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1964), PP. 3-1*. ^Bruce R. Joyce, Strategies for Elementary Social Science Education (Chicago: Science Research Associates, 1965)» p* 7- 3 The social studies are more wholly devoted to educa tion for citizenship than are other fields. Many objectives of citizenship education, therefore, con stitute objectives of the social studies.7 The chief role of education in a democracy is intelli gent or critical transmission of cultural heritages, during the course of which disagreements among indivi duals and incompatibilities in personal outlook are exposed and resolved creatively.® A major objective of secondary education and the social studies instruction is the development of an effective citizenry.9 The Social Sciences, The Social Studies, and Social Education Before continuing, it seems necessary to draw a distinc tion among several terms which will be used throughout the remainder of the paper, namely, the social sciences, the social studies, and social education. This will be done in order that the ensuing discussion concerning socialization in general and political socialization in particular might be more clearly understood. The Social Sciences - The Social Studies. The most commonly referred to and most widely accepted differentiation between the social sciences and the social studies is that drawn by Wesley. 7 Jonathon C. McLendon, Social Studies in Secondary Education (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1965). P. ^3. Maurice P. Hunt and Lawrence E. Metcalf, Teaching High School Social Studies (2nd ed.; New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1968), p. 35. 9 Maurice P. Moffatt, Social Studies Instruction (3rd ed.; Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1963), p. 12. b The social sciences are scholarly and advanced studies of human relationships. The social scientist is concerned with experimentation, research, and discovery to widen the frontiers of knowledge about man and his relationships with other men and with his environment. The social studies comprise a portion of the school curricu lum wherein the content, findings, and methods of the social sciences are simplified and reorganized for Instructional purposes. Thus, the social studies are those studies that provide understand ings of man's ways of living, of the basic needs of man, of the activities in which he engages to meet his needs, and of the institutions he has developed. Briefly, the social studies are con cerned with man and his relationship to his social and physical environments.10 Most of the major writers in the elementary social studies field concur with this distinction, the notable exceptions being two essays in which the authors have seen fit to define "social study" as a verb in contrast to the collective noun, "social studies." Douglass defines "social study" as 'Any inquiry which has as its central focus the study of one or more aspects of man’s relationships with his fellow man is a social study.Clements, Fielder, and Tabachnick are somewhat more explicit. Social study, therefore, is the process of learning about variety and change in the actions of people as they arrange to live together in groups. This learning goes on through the gathering and interpret ing of social data, as wellas through critical ^Edgar B. Wesley, Teaching Social Studies in High