What examples of citizenship education do you remember from your K-12 schooling?
I remember talking about being helpful and volunteering in the community, and this would have been an example of the us being taught to be a “Personally responsible citizen” (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004, p. 3).
There were also classes that would have taught me to be a better “Participatory Citizen” (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004, p. 4), but because I didn’t realize their purpose until reading this article, I didn’t take those classes.
What types of citizenship (e.g. which of the three types mentioned in the article) were the focus?
“Personally Responsible Citizen” (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004, p. 3), was the main focus I was taught about in elementary school. When we needed to do fundraising like Unicef, they would always say that we need to be grateful for what we have, and we should want to help children who are less fortunate than we are. And w talked a lot about helping others or ways that we could help in the community, an example of this was my class would go to the old folks home and walk with them around town, and talk with them. This made their days, and my grandma’s friends would tell her about how it made their day. And earing that made our volunteer days a lot more rewarding.
Explore what this approach to the curriculum made (im)possible in regards to citizenship.
It wasn’t very formal so it was more like a hidden curriculum that was expected for us to learn, rather than something we needed to be taught. And in my personal experience it was something that was being introduced to at a young age. One way was me and my community coming together to help me raise donations towards the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation , and this happened from my second birthday until my tenth. This hidden curriculum was made somewhat impossible sometimes because not all children in the classroom had as much money, and were able to help out as much s others. This made them a bit apprehensive to help out, and that made it hard for my teachers to handle the situation because it becomes more awkward.
Leeza Currin 