THE GENERAL EDUCATION FUNCTION OF THE CURRICULUM FOR DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP

Concern about citizenship education for democracy has not been persistent. Over the years it has been neglected or even subverted to narrow nationalistic and special interests. Constructing a curriculum in general education for American secondary schools has been difficult, since a free society requires a special kind of citizenship education--one in which the means are congruent with democratic ends.; This historical study analyzes major proposals for citizenship education since the Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education was issued in 1918 by the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education (C.O.R.S.E.). The C.O.R.S.E. recommended that a democratic society requires a comprehensive public high school incorporating democratic curricular structures. Subsequent national reports are compared and contrasted with the democratic curricular ideas developed by the C.O.R.S.E. Sources of advocacy for the curriculum proposals in the various reports are analyzed as well as socio-political influences on curriculum.; Examination of curriculum proposals over the first half of the twentieth century reveals a wealth of sources that endorse or embellish the curricular ideas of the C.O.R.S.E. These ideas included the expanded development of the unique, comprehensive high school and the provision for an integrated, social-problems-based general education for all students. Appropriateness of such a curriculum was substantiated by research including the extensive Eight-Year Study.; The conservative socio-political climate commencing with the cold war and space race undermined years of effort in developing a curriculum in general education encompassing the pervasive problems of American democracy. In recent years, various national panels have served to subvert the democratic purpose of public education by sponsoring curriculum reports favoring narrow nationalistic or special interests. Their undue influence over the curriculum points to the need for a national educational policies commission with a broadly based membership which would address pervading problems of educational policy and practice in the light of our democratic commitment. Concerning secondary schooling in America, Conant held that "If one accepts the ideal of a democratic, fluid society with a minimum of class distinction, the maximum of fluidity, the maximum of understanding between different vocational groups, then the ideal secondary school is a comprehensive public high school."...