EDUCATING CITIZENSPreparing AUC Undergraduates for

the New Egypt

Facilitator: Pandeli Glavanis

BACKGROUND & INTRODUCTION

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Vision of education:

That integrates intellectual with moral virtues and connects the values of civic responsibility to the classic academic mission of higher education

CARNEGIE PROJECTHow can higher education

contribute to developing these qualities in sustained and effective ways?

What problems do institutions face when they seriously and intentionally undertake moral and civic education?

What strategies do they employ to overcome them?”

CARNEGIE PROJECT CONCLUSIONS

Incorporated in a book:

Colby, Anne; Beaumont, Elizabeth; Ehrlich, Thomas; Stephens, Jason (2003), Educating Citizens: Preparing America’s Undergraduates for Lives of Moral and Civic Responsibility, Hoboken, N.J., Jossey-Bass.

Discussed in a recent CLT New Chalk Talk

KEY CONCLUSIONS

Liberal Education forced to adapt to challenges

of globalization, competitive labor markets, etc.

Marginalized moral and civic education

In favor of professional disciplinary curricula

And faculty devoted time to professional

disciplinary research rather than teaching

HOWEVER …………

Teaching innovations, however, especially

experiential teaching strategies contribute to

moral and civic education within disciplinary-

based curricula

Thus, innovative pedagogies can support

the intellectual dimensions of moral and

civic development

OLD POLITICAL CLIMATE Pre-25 January 2011, politics had been

transformed into a spectator sport Citizens had been relegated to the sidelines Prevailing political culture had established

within its members a cut-off point They did not see too much, get too involved,

or try to challenge the system. Youth and especially students stayed away

from politics Educational systems also conformed and

acted to limit perceptions.

NEW POLITICAL CLIMATE Democracy in Egypt is in the process of being

established Since democracy is always-in-the making, the

give and take between politics and the citizenry is an important dynamic one which education must focus.

Education is critical to the development of political imagination that nurtures democracy

To govern itself, the citizenry must develop intelligent judgment

To do so, both the content and practice of education must be re-visioned with each generation.

OUR AGENDA FOR CHANGE! Undergraduate institutions are in a position

to promote democratic competencies and participation, and prepare students to be thoughtful, responsible, and creative citizens.

Key themes to explore with students:

1. Honesty2. Compassion3. Respect4. Responsibility5. Courage

HOW TO TEACH SUCH VALUES?

In Plato's dialogues, Socrates considers whether virtue can be taught.

Socrates concludes that virtue is not knowledge and therefore cannot be taught.

Plato would probably hold that it cannot be taught as knowledge.

But skills and understanding a student needs to exercise virtue, values and social responsibility--these can be taught

PAULO FREIRE AS A GUIDE TO TEACHING

"This is a great discovery, education is politics! After that, when a teacher discovers that he or she is a politician, too, the teacher has to ask, What kind of politics am I doing in the classroom?"Paulo Freire, A Pedagogy for Liberation

TEACHING DEMOCRACY IN PRACTICE

Students can learn skills to help them work productively in a group,

as well as skills in organizing, problem-solving, consensus-building and decision-making. They can learn skills to help them think

critically, To inquire, To engage in dialogue and listen well. They can learn skills in conflict resolution.

ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION

SELF-TEST: DEBATE AND DIALOGUE

What is the difference?

Which would you use in class?

FROM DEBATE TO…….

Debate as a way to argue a point. Debate is an approach that takes place between opponents, who are combative, trying to prove each other wrong. It's often a zero sum game that's all about one side winning, the other losing.

………….DIALOGUE

Dialogue, on the other hand, is a cooperative endeavor that takes place between partners. In dialogue, people listen so that they can understand the other position, seeking to find common ground that allows all parties to win.. Dialogue requires the partners respect one another and to be open-minded, open to being wrong and open to change.

THE TEST OF INTELLIGENCE: GRADES?

"How will I know I have learned anything if you don't give me a grade?" (student in my class)

"The true test of intelligence is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don't know what to do.“ (Alan Shapiro)

Consider and contrast Which would you agree with?

THE PROBLEM OF PLAGIARISM

The internet allows professional plagiarists to produce papers where information passes from screen to paper to faculty without the slightest disturbance of neuron activity.

Any 19-year old knows how to cut and paste and cut and paste again and defeat Turnitin.com

We encourage it by asking them to do “research”

i.e. collecting and displaying within pretty covers plagiarized ideas and appearing “well informed”

We need to teach INQUIRY

TEACHING INQUIRY AND CITIZENSHIP

Which means finding and/or helping to develop the intellectual interests of students.

Which means teaching how to think. Which means teaching the art of asking good

questions, the skill of answering them The understanding of crap detection. (Asked

what was essential for a great writer, Ernest Hemingway answered, "A built-in, shock-proof crap detector.")

Which means time, lots of time. End of problem of plagiarism & better

citizens

TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING

Peter Elbow defines critical thinking as “methodological doubt”

"the systematic, disciplined, and conscious attempt to criticize everything no matter how compelling it might seem-to find flaws or contradictions we might otherwise miss.“

Elbow also proposes “methodological belief” "the equally systematic, disciplined, and

conscious attempt to believe everything, no matter how unlikely or repellent it may seem-to find virtues or strengths we might otherwise miss."

METHODOLOGICAL DOUBTING & BELIEVING

Elbow writes, "the truth is often complex and that different people often catch different aspects of it." They can also help us see that "certainty is rarely if ever possible and that we increase the likelihood of getting things wrong if we succumb to the hunger for it."

Also see the poem distributed.

(Peter Elbow, "Methodological Doubting and Believing: Contraries in Inquiry," in Embracing Contraries: Explorations in Learning and Teaching, N.Y., Oxford University Press, 1986.)

GROUP WORK AND DEMOCRACY

Group work is an effective technique for achieving certain kinds of intellectual and social learning goals.

It is a superior technique for conceptual learning, for creative problem solving, and for increasing oral language proficiency.

Socially, it will improve intergroup relations by increasing trust and friendliness.

It will teach students skills for working in groups that can be transferred to many student and adult work situations.

CONCLUDING COMMENT We need to teach students how to think,

NOT what to think. For this to happen we need innovative,

interactive, experiential pedagogies. They can be used within any curriculum. “If we once start thinking no one can

guarantee where we shall come out, except that many objects, ends, and institutions are doomed. Every thinker puts some portion of an apparently stable world in peril and no one can wholly predict what will emerge in its place.“ John Dewey.

THANK YOUAny

questions?