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The
Manhattan Mercury
Remedial
civic education
KSU program finds
we've got a lot to learn about our governance
Manhattan, KS -- Evidence
shows that an increasing number of people don't understand the basics of
government, said David E. Procter, director of the Center for Engagement and
Community Development at Kansas State University.
"A lot of people can't say what the three branches of government are, name their
senators or representatives," Procter said. "It's less than 50 percent of
people."
Looking at ways to increase that knowledge, and giving K-State a role in the
education process, was the focus of a recent summit hosted by the CECD.
"Civics and Civility Summit: Voices of the Kansas People," took place Friday at
the K-State Alumni Center. Members of K-State's staff and faculty, along
with state political leaders, educators and judges talked about how the state
can do a better job in promoting civic education.
Former Kansas Gov. John Carlin, U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten, Kansas
Supreme Court Justice Marla Luckert, Kansas Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh
and U.S. Congresswoman Nancy Boyda were among the attendees.
"There are two parts to civic education," Procter said. "One is the basic
facts of government ... but that's not as important to me as the whole business
of what it means to be a citizen.
"Being involved in the community and service to others, and the idea of the
importance of voting; those value-based or attitude-based issues are really
critical. That is part of civic education as well."
Discussions at the summit looked at several problems with civic education.
Procter said the group discussed the issue of schools and teachers "teaching to
the test" because of the federal and state laws that tie funding to the results
of those tests. Teachers focus on math, science, reading and other test
subjects, and while he said those subjects are important, it leaves less room in
a curriculum for civic education.
Procter said many speakers also quoted Robert Putnam's book Bowling Alone, which
was written almost 15 years ago. The book discusses the decline of civic
mindedness and involvement since the 1960s, which is attributed to families with
two working parents and an increase in television viewing. "There is a
clear correlation in the increase of television viewing and civic engagement,"
Procter said. "He focuses on TV, but I imagine it's the same kind of thing
as computers and Web use."
Procter said speakers also discussed the various ways people have to access
information today. "It's everywhere," he said. "More and more people
are accessing information through digital or electronic means." However,
he said he and other researchers have found that many people who get their news
from the Internet tend to go to the same sites over and over.
Outside of the summit, Procter and other researchers at K-State are looking at
the quality of argument in three types of discussion formats, including public
hearings, on-line forums and public forums. The study, through K-State's
Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy, even collected all posts on The
Mercury's forums related to cigarette smoking issues. He said the data has
been collected and is in the process of being written.
Procter said there are numerous benefits to hosting community dialogs when they
are done in a civil manner. After completing his Ph.D. from the University
of Nebraska, Procter conducted research on political advertising and language.
"What I looked at was the negative political advertising," he said.
"We found that negative political and the really nasty ads' impact was to spike
levels of cynicism. When people watch negative ads they don't feel warm
and fuzzy about their own candidate, they come to see all political candidates
as evil and bad."
Procter said the center is working on a number of issues in which K-State can
lend resources from faculty and each of the university's 105 county extension
offices. Some of the areas where the center is helping are with issues
like economic development, public health, arts programs and K-State's role in
disaster response.
"The center has a staff member whose job it is to make sure the center's efforts
are coordinated with K-State Research and Extension," Procter said. "We
try to be available to help around the state, and as a land grant university we
have had a presence for that for about 150 years."
For more information about the Center for Engagement and Community Development
and its projects, visit
http://www.k-state.edu/cecd on the Internet.
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