Knowledge to Action: Teachers' Perception and Enactment of Democracy, Equity, and Diversity in China and the United States

• In Event: 18.044 - Democratic Citizenship in Education SIG Paper Session 2

Abstract

This paper looks at continuity and discontinuity of teachers’ perception and enactment of civic values such as equality, democracy, freedom, cohesion and globalization in China and the U.S. Applying qualitative methodologies, this paper finds that, beyond the myth of citizenship education toward China and United States, there are common ideals and imperfections around democracy, treatment of diversities, and global consciousness. Particularly there has been common gap between perception and enactment in both countries. 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, East China Normal University

• Anthony Longoria