7/29/2019 Civic Action Reflection

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Kevin Fisher

September 25, 2013

EDUC 700

Redefining Civic Action

Dr. Meira Levinson gave an excellent presentation on her thoughts and

opinions of civic action. Mr. Levinson started her discussion with a few examples she

had seen throughout her teaching career, specifically in her fifth grade classrooms in

Atlanta and Boston. She mentioned a time when one of her students wore a button

on his shirt to represent a lost family member. She appreciated the thought, but 

questioned why this was the only time she could recognize her student’s lost family

member. She noted the student’s action as a means of public action. Another

question she discussed was why students in public schools were mandated to

participate in a specific number community service hours –she questioned which

acts could be deemed community service. For example, a student in her fifth grade

class spent countless hours babysitting a younger cousin for free. Dr. Levinson

brought forth the discussion as to why or why not this could be considered

community service, and so, public/civic action.

Dr. Levinson mentioned a few entities about civic action that I thought were

particularly noteworthy. She thinks that civic action shapes what we choose to study

in school, affects how we judge others, and determines our impacts on the world.

Directly related to a classroom setting, I am a firm believer that we should be

teaching our students transferrable life skills. That is, the smaller assignments

within the classroom have a larger meaning and are useful to the students outside

the school setting. If we wish to teach our students to advocate for themselves and

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form well-developed thoughts, it is crucial that we include assignments in our

curricula that foster these abilities.

Dr. Levinson commented on the structure of a typical high school “Civics”

class. She mentioned that through the textbooks, educators force facts, historical

occurrences, and dates of political engagements down the throats of students;

however, what is not taught is how students can act publically on their opinions and

impact the outside world. Why is today’s Civics class primarily about government?

The focus is on the education, the teaching, and the facts as opposed to the action,

according to Dr. Levinson. The “old-school” idea of civics with “thick textbooks” is

outdated. She mentioned the history of civic action and how between 1980 and

1990, the focus community service and volunteerism. Later, in the late 1990’s and

early 2000’s, collective efforts, unions, and non-profit organizations emerge.

It is important to note that young people can make differences in the world

outside of voting and government. While knowledge is focused instead of action, Dr.

Levinson thinks one form of civic action is a student’s resistance to learning seen

through disciplinary problems. Dr. Levinson focused in her discussion on civic

action not having a clear definition. My opinion is that this is a good thing in regards

to the classroom because “education is not a tool for individual advancement, but 

for social collective advancement”, according to Dr. Levinson. Instead of just 

teaching students about power, we as educators should make them capable of 

having a voice and expanding the horizons for civic action, as this is an ever-

changing society.