Social Issues in the Social Studies: Teaching Economic Inequality in U.S. and Canadian High Schools

• In Event: Roundtable Session 56
  In Roundtable Session: Teaching About Economic Inequality Across the High School Curriculum

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand social studies teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and practices in addressing economic inequality, and how economic inequality is taught in high schools overall in the United States and Canada. Our data draws on a survey of nearly 1,200 high school social studies teachers across the two countries, as well as follow-up interviews with 50 of these teachers. Using these data, we ask to what extent social studies teachers believe they have a responsibility to make social issues a part of their teaching practice. We answer this by considering how teaching about economic inequality varies across the two countries, and explore the topics covered and pedagogies employed. We also analyze teachers’ perceptions of their individual agency and beliefs qua teachers, the extent to which political orientation affects teaching practice, and various socioeconomic and cultural factors that may influence our results.

Our initial findings show that while about 90% of U.S. and Canadian teachers believe economic inequality is a moderate or significant problem, only slightly more than half in both countries address issues related to economic inequality at least once a week. In both countries, roughly 87% of teachers identify the causes of economic inequality as something they regularly cover, while other related topics such as unemployment in the U.S. (86%) and economic inequality within Canada (83%) were also commonly reported. U.S. and Canadian teachers cite the use of data, current events, documentaries, and popular media as common strategies employed for these lessons.

Some of the survey questions’ intersections, however, generate a more complex picture of teaching practice about economic inequality. While 76% of U.S. and 81% of Canadian teachers report having some control in content, only 40% of U.S. teachers and 50% in Canada report teaching about economic inequality because it is of personal importance to them. These teachers are more likely to be on the left of the political spectrum and teach more about economic inequality on a weekly basis than the average. In the U.S., these teachers are also more likely to cover topics like social welfare protections than other teachers.

These findings ground a discussion of the implications for teaching practice related to social problems such as economic inequality. Our analysis questions the normative valence of a prevailing notion in teacher education, and within the field of social studies generally—what Cochran-Smith (2006) identifies as training teachers to “(stand) outside of or above the messiness of politics, values, ideas, and ideals.” From this, we explore possible negative consequences of believing and acting as if teachers’ opinions and beliefs, even those stemming from personal experience, have no place in classrooms, and the extent to which this may constrain fostering citizens prepared to participate in a dynamic democracy. We close by echoing Rogers’ (2014) call for teachers to have a greater and more nuanced capacity for teaching about economic inequality, and that in order to achieve this, drawing from one’s engagement in everyday life as a teacher is not just a normative goal but a necessary step.

Authors

• Anthony A Berryman, University of California - Los Angeles

• Anton Birioukov, University of Ottawa

• Michael Ishimoto, University of California - Los Angeles