The Canon of Civics Education: Troubling the Logics of Liberalism in Social Studies Civics Standards

• In Event: Rethinking Civic Engagement and Education: Identities, Controversies, and Critical Citizenship

Abstract

U.S. civics education’s goal of promoting democratic values and ideas is widely agreed upon, but less is known about the common themes across states for the content students must learn. Drawing on the Black radical tradition and settler colonialism as theoretical guides, this paper engages a critical content analyses of all 50 states’ standards with three themes emerging: the suturing together of individualism and responsibility, promoting superficial civic action through ambiguous liberal theory, and promoting a passive narrative of civic exclusion as past-tense. Implications of the centrality of anti-Blackness and settler colonialism are discussed in detail to promote anti-oppressive education.

Authors

• Ryan Oto, University of Minnesota

• Sarah B. Shear, University of Washington - Bothell