Civic Values in Curriculum Standards of China and the United States: A Comparative Study on Citizenship Education Within Different Social Systems

• In Event: Democratic Citizenship in Education Paper Session 2

Abstract

Citizenship education in international context delivers civic values to students and empowers them to reflect and change the society. This paper looks at continuity and discontinuity of civic values in curriculum standards in China and the United States. By using text analysis and literature analysis, this paper finds that, beyond the myth of citizenship education between different social systems, there are common ideals around democracy and equity. Yet, the interpretation and implementation of these ideas are different based on the social discourse. Also, this paper argues that cross-cultural lessons for the field of Education can be gained by examining citizenship education in comparison.

Authors

• Tao Wang, University of Washington - Seattle

• Anthony Longoria, University of Washington - Seattle