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In Canada and elsewhere, the shift from more horizontal models of governance and toward a more organized, diverse, and empowered civil society has sparked renewed interest in citizen involvement. The various dimensions of citizen involvement in policy processes are as follows: (1) mobilizing interest; (2) claims making; (3) knowledge acquisition; (4) spanning and bridging; (5) convening and deliberating; (6) community capacity building; (7) analysis and synthesis; and (8) transparency and feedback. These dimensions play various roles in the following stages of the policy process: (1) problem identification; (1) priority setting; (3) policy formation and design; (4) passage of policy instruments; (5) implementation; and (6) evaluation. An analysis of the adequacy of Canada's existing political institutions in providing for the dimensions of citizen involvement in each of these stages reveals that those institutions are not assuming as effective a part in citizen involvement as they might. Possible types of reforms to address this problem are as follows: (1) improving existing institutions and processes and developing institutionalized mechanisms for funding citizen involvement; (2) creating a new institution for citizen engagement, such as a civic forum; (3) changing culture within government; and (4) investing in civil society, including by promoting strong associational networks and supporting capacity building in voluntary organizations. (Contains 100 references.) (MN)

The roles of spirituality and spiritual learning in transformative learning are discussed. The discussion was initiated from an anti-colonial perspective on engaging spiritually in the political project of transformative learning, and it is grounded in issues of African education and in the principle of teaching critically so that education serves the spiritual development of learners and their communities. Transformative learning is seen as education that is able to resist oppression and domination by strengthening the individual self and collectives to deal with continued reproduction of colonial and re-colonial relations in academic institutions. It is argued that transformative learning must also assist learners in dealing with the pervasive effects of academic institutions' imperial structures on the processes of knowledge production and validation; understanding of indigenousness; and pursuit of agency, resistance, and politics for educational change. The following were among the recommendations to educators wanting to help students become critically and spiritually grounded and to engage in transformative learning: (1) give learners a sense of place, history, culture, and identity; (2) recognize that learners are not a generic, homogeneous group; (3) recognize the contextual variations and differences existing between teachers and their students; (4) create relevant knowledge; (5) teach collaboratively; (6) tell success stories; and (7) recognize the sociopolitical contexts of knowledge production. There are 39 references. (MN)

Adolescent voluntary associations are particularly well positioned in the life course to encourage voting as youth become full citizens. Extracurriculars socialize students into voting by habituating them to civic engagement and by connecting them to politically engaged cultures. We establish this argument by testing the effects of high school extracurriculars on voting and the formation of political ideology in young adulthood, using two nationally representative longitudinal datasets and propensity score matching. We find that participation in general promotes voting, though some activities (notably, some sports) decrease it. Specific activities that encourage voting often have no political content, and their effects are not explained by the voting rates of peers in these groups. One of the biggest and most robust effects is for the performing arts: participation in high school performing arts is related to a higher rate of voting in early adulthood. Furthermore, some activities affect political ideology and party membership in adulthood, illustrating socialization into distinct political cultures. The overall pattern is that religious attendance and a few sports steer students to the conservative end of the political spectrum and into the Republican party, while academic clubs, drama clubs, and honor society steer students towards the liberal end and/or into the Democratic party. Schools can create environments that encourage extracurricular involvement through funding and policy. But they can also discourage extracurriculars through neglect. These results demonstrate that which activities thrive and which shrink will have an impact on future voting behaviors of young adults. (Contains 7 tables.)

Care and education for young children is often understood primarily as a commodity to be provided in the marketplace, or as a kind of factory to produce human capital. But institutions for children and young people can also serve a very different role. They can be understood as forums for democratic political practice. This is a choice that we, as citizens, can make. This paper applies the idea of democracy to a wide range of institutions providing education and care for young children. Observing that democracy is in a sickly state in neo-liberal societies , the author discusses the importance of democratic participation as a right of citizenship, a bulwark against oppression and injustice, and a means for fostering diversity in society. He then looks at what it means to have democracy in early childhood settings, distinguishing between a democratic ethos that values the sharing of opinions and perspectives, and democracy in the form of management structures that involve elected representatives of parents and educators. He looks at what we can learn from practices around Europe, especially in the Nordic countries, and at what conditions are necessary to foster the establishment of democratic participation in early childhood settings. (Contains 6 footnotes.)

In January 2004, college students from postsecondary institutions across Wisconsin were invited to join US Representatives Tammy Baldwin and Mark Green at The Johnson Foundation's Wingspread Conference Center in Racine, Wisconsin. The purpose of the discussion was to engage students' attitudes regarding politics, and their understanding of connections between community service and involvement in the political process. In this report, the author lays out the reasons for developing this event, recounts the exchange, and considers its ramifications for increasing youth civic engagement. (Contains 6 endnotes.) [This working paper was produced by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).]

This literature review is specifically interested in empirical research addressing the relationship between adolescent participation in extracurricular activities and adult political engagement. Relevant research is found in political science, psychology, education and sociology. In order to capture the literature most directly related to the main question the authors screened known research, searched bibliographic references, reviewed databases including major social science fields and searched for the work of authors with a history of working on this question. Relevant journals were also reviewed manually. General findings are as follows: (1) There is a strong correlation between adolescent extracurricular participation and adult political and civic behaviors; (2) When controlling for type of organization, adolescent participation in instrumental organizations is correlated with later political and civic participation while adolescent participation in expressive organizations is not; (3) Although most adolescent members of extracurricular groups come from higher socioeconomic status (SES) families, extracurricular participants who do not come from high SES families have similar adult political and civic engagement patterns; and (4) Research utilizing path analysis and/or longitudinal panel data is proving to be the most powerful for explaining the complex set of forces that shape politically active adults. (Contains 1 table.) [This working paper was produced by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).]

Unlike many recent immigrants who entered Canada as highly trained professionals in their countries of origin, most of Canada's immigrant garment workers are working-class women with little education. The Apparel Textile Action Committee (ATAC) and Homeworker's Association (HWA) are among the bodies that were established to assist immigrant garment workers in Canada who lost their jobs to industrial restructuring and became home workers. The experiences of both bodies has made it clear that the training available to these women does not meet their needs as immigrants with a limited command of English. A study of the informal learning outcomes of HWA's members yielded the following findings: (1) most immigrant garment workers have little expectation that taking classes will lead to better jobs and higher pay; (2) although most immigrant garment workers do not expect that English-as-a-second language (ESL) classes will make them fluent in English, their ESL classes serve important social and educational purposes by giving participants a place to develop a sense of sociability with other workers and learn strategies for negotiating their lives as non-English speaking immigrants and their rights as workers; and (3) although classes are obvious places to look for informal learning, the HWA's executive meetings provide environments for explicit "political learning." (MN)

The idea of a set of skills, usually called civic skills, which are required to effectively participate in civic and political life, is integral to many concepts of political participation. This literature search is designed to investigate what is known about civic skills empirically and theoretically including how they are defined and measured, and what relationship they have to political participation. This literature review began with the work most familiar to political scientists, Verba, Schlozman and Brady's "Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics" (1995). which defines civic skills and incorporates them into a larger conceptual framework on political participation. From political science, the author moved to the education field, where civic skills-related literature is dispersed in the civic education and service learning arenas. A third set of research focused on experimental programs including service learning and youth development. The author explored psychology literature, looking at authors whose work has crossed between developmental psychology and political socialization as related to skill development. The author notes that there is dispersion of literature with very little cross-over; disparate fields seem to be doing important work, with significant overlap in findings and observations, but most authors stay largely focused on their own disciplinary predecessors, not venturing deeply into other disciplines to inform their work. Kirlin concludes with several observations about the state of knowledge concerning civic skills and a menu of questions for further research attention, including: (1) Lack of definition; (2) Need for better understanding of the process of how to measure emerging civic skills; (3) Concepts about how civic skills relate to broader questions of civic engagement, and political participation between disciplines; (4) Lack of literature and understanding of such complex skill acts as learning to work with others to achieve a common good; (5) Exploration of the rationale for placement of civic skills within specific age groupings; (6) Better understanding of skill transfer and causal relationships; (7) Importance of organization structure; (8) Consideration of civic skills in complete context, rather than in a vacuum; and (9) Encouraging as well as understanding factors in political participation. (Contains 3 figures.) [This document was produced by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).]

This study examined what makes college students feel positive about the potential and need for change in racial relations, particularly whether a student's own race is a significant factor. Data were drawn from an initial sample of 24,847 first-time freshmen who completed the 1985 survey and a 1989 follow-up instrument to measure how students' commitment to fostering racial understanding changes over time using a large, nationwide sample. Overall, findings indicate that exposure to liberal viewpoints and cultural and ethnic issues do further racial understanding. However, while the overall change was marginally positive, the differential rates of change appeared to separate white students and black students even further apart than when they first began college. Black students believed promoting racial understanding was an important issue regardless of what else is going on in college. The college years appeared to empower black students to greatly increase their commitment to easing racial tensions. White students did not gain the same degree of commitment to promoting racial understanding. For both black students and white students, the most significant effects on their commitment came from discussing racial and ethnic issues as well as their initial commitment to racial understanding as freshmen. (Contains 35 references.) (JB)

This study examined how college students' attitudes toward women's roles change during college in order to clarify how colleges and universities may implement policies and programs to facilitate "positive" gender role attitude changes. The study employed a longitudinal design and data were drawn from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program surveys, a national survey of over 17,000 college freshmen in 1985 who were followed up in 1989. Data were analyzed through the use of cross-tabulations and stepwise multiple regression analyses. Although few students began their studies endorsing a traditional view of women's roles, those who did became increasingly egalitarian during their undergraduate years. Women were more likely than men to have egalitarian attitudes, both as freshmen and 4 years later. After controlling for students' background characteristics, the structural characteristics of institutions had little effect on students' attitudes. Rather it was involvement with others, particularly the faculty, and participation in certain majors and activities which had an impact on students' attitudes. Results also indicate that much of what influences students' attitudes toward women's roles takes place not only outside the college classroom but also outside the college environment. (Contains 29 references.) (Author/JB)

The large and growing Hispanic population in the United States is rapidly changing the ethnic composition of the country. In 1982 there were close to 16 million Hispanics in the United States and, according to U.S. census projections, 16 million more Hispanics are expected to join the U.S. population by 2010, raising the total Hispanic population to 31 million. In addition, legalization provisions contained in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 could eventually grant amnesty to close to two million undocumented immigrants, more than 70% of whom are of Mexican origin. In light of their growing presence, Hispanics have the potential to become a politically powerful and influential force in American politics. This paper focuses on the process of political adaptation by the U.S. Hispanic population. The paper assumes that it is possible to construct objective indicators to measure the degree of political integration. Much of the available evidence suggests that Hispanics have not been successful in mobilizing a substantial proportion of their population into political activity. For example, data from the 1980 census reveal that the failure to naturalize is most pronounced among Hispanic immigrants. Furthermore, Mexican-Americans are found to register and vote less than Blacks or Whites even after controlling for citizenship and age. The future potential of Hispanics in the American political arena, however, is more difficult to estimate. It is important to know the degree of political activity among Hispanics and which factors have facilitated or retarded this progress. Additional research could uncover such factors. (TES)

A folk theory of the effect of language on thought underlies decisions made in U.S. courts regarding language law. Previous work on folk theory has shown an internal structuring by which a premise entails subsequent terms, consistent within the framework of the folk theory's logic. An analysis of metapragmatic statements in U.S. case law materials reveals a crudely "Whorfian" premise from which a common folk theory of language builds. This theory, evident in judges' decisions and dissents, predicates the ability to understand U.S. political concepts on fluency in English. Because becoming a citizen requires comprehension of these political concepts, the folk theory links identity as a U.S. citizen with the ability to speak the English language. The appearance of a Whorfian premise in this folk theory also lends support to the suggestion by cognitive anthropologists that scientific theories are typically systematized adaptations of folk theories. (Author)

As part of a larger study (not discussed) ten educated Malaysian citizens were interviewed to find whether their rising political consciousness, over a ten year period (1988-1999), indicated that their transformation was influenced by their culture. The subjects were between 35-45 years old, married, with an average of four children. All were members of the majority race, Malay, and held membership in the United Malay National Organization (UMNO), the biggest political party in Malaysia. The following research questions guided the study: (1) What triggered individuals' transformations; and (2) what facilitated the transformation to occur. Voting patterns in the 10th General Election of 1999 were meshed with interview transcripts. Two themes emerged from the data: (1) abhorrence of political scandals and upheavals during 1998-1999; and (2) a feeling of being intellectually demeaned (lied to by government authorities). The major conclusion of the study was that a political event could trigger perspective shifts and lead to transformative learning if it is perceived as threatening to the communal cultural identity. A second conclusion was that the methods used to handle the national crisis were against participants' cultural and religious values. The researchers believe the study contributed to theoretical explanations of transformative learning among individuals in a developing country. (The bibliography lists 28 references). (AJ)

The evolution of cadre (political elite and bureaucratic functionaries) education in China from 1949 to the present was evaluated in terms of leadership development and the underlying interests of the Chinese Communist Party as it integrates more fully into the world economy. Historic achievements include: (1) increased knowledge about market economies; (2) increased use of management theory and practice; and (3) improved work performance efficiency. In 1998, to correct ongoing cadre problems (such as corruption, favoritism, and lack of civic responsibility) and to improve the governance capacity of cadres (to create greater social stability), the federal government initiated Three-Emphasis Education (emphasizing theory, study, political awareness, and work ethics improvement), an integral part of which was interviews with 1500 cadres. Findings included the following: (1) the hierarchical nature of the program prevented rapid improvements and public access to program evaluation; (2) poor systemization into cadre's daily work caused corruption to resurface once education was complete; and (3) the lack of an educational objective to change the Chinese bureaucracy (the current objective was to change individuals only). Inclusion of the public in the process of cadre political education is recommended in order to strengthen educational outcomes. (The bibliography lists seven references). (AJ)

A recent international symposium on radicalizing feminism explored ways of developing a dialogic feminism that emphasizes working in different settings under the common goal of including women who have been invisible in the dominant feminist literature by furthering theories and practices based on the principles of dialogic feminism. The seminar included the following presentations: "Latinas in US Schools" (Antonia Darder); "Working Class Women's Learning Stories" (Barbara Merrill); "The Time Is Now: Education for Radical Democracy and Transgressive Action" (Eileen de los Reyes, Yamila Hussein); "Education as a Bridging Strategy between Feminist Organizations and Low-Income Women" (Nelly Stromquist); and "The Other Women: Social Transformation in Gender Relations" (Lidia Puigvert). The following actions for developing dialogic feminism emerged from the presentations: (1) open a space for dialogue and reflection about the need to radicalize feminism by including women with no academic experience and any other women who have been excluded from the mainstream feminist discourse; (2) strengthen the foundations of a universal feminism that includes all women and women's cultures as a tool for change; (3) promote ways of social participation of nonacademic women that recognize their cultural diversity and contribution to society; and (4) discuss the role of education in helping women overcome social barriers and exclusion. (Contains 15 references.) (MN)

A growing number of educational programs seek to promote young people's participation in political and civic affairs. A common strategy for doing so is to provide students with opportunities to make a difference in their communities. Much research demonstrates a strong connection between a person's sense about making a difference efficacy and the level of participation. Ten nationally recognized programs that engaged students in community-based experiences and aimed to develop students' civic and political commitments were studied for over two years. By drawing on observations, interviews, and pre/post surveys that focused on changes in attitudes related to civic participation, the study was able to contextualize students' sense of efficacy as civic actors and its relation to program goals. This paper explores two common assumptions about developing a sense of civic and political efficacy: (1) when students' sense of efficacy grows, their commitment to future civic involvement grows as well; and (2) conversely, when students become frustrated or come to believe that problems are intractable, their commitment appears to decline (data supported these suppositions). Evidence presented indicated that complex questions surround the desirability of structuring curriculum to promote students' sense of their political and civic efficacy. The findings indicate that opportunities for civic and political efficacy can support the development of stronger commitments; but opportunities for students to learn about and experience the barriers and constraints they and other civic actors face are also important. The paper suggests ways programs might navigate dilemmas faced by practitioners who seek to structure experiences so students can gain a sense of efficacy on one hand, and an understanding of serious obstacles to democratic social change on the other. (Contains 8 notes, 3 tables, and 28 references.) (Author/BT)

This paper seeks to provide an overview of theoretical concepts of civic education and citizenship. The paper discusses recent comparative education research on political socialization and its implications for future research, such as in not fully democratic countries like Malaysia. Based on a literature review and prior research in the region, the role of education as a vehicle for teaching civic education and citizenship is examined. A qualitative research study in Malaysia is proposed to examine the relationship between official policy and actual school practice in the areas of civic education and citizenship. By comparing the views of teachers and students with those of policymakers (and the expectations presented in policy documents), the study compares official policy with what was really taught and learned in the selected educational settings. (Contains 44 references.) (BT)

This paper offers a historical overview regarding the nation state aspect of Norway because of its dramatic influence in curriculum making. The study examines aspects of the Norwegian national curriculum identity related to curriculum structure, to the underlying principles and consequent form those principles will take in the curriculum, and to the content of the curriculum in what students should know. These aspects are related to recent curriculum reform in Norway. The analysis is based on policy texts from the Royal Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs as well as on current debate. The description focuses to a degree on related tensions and paradoxes found within the social and educational structures. Sections of the paper include: (1) "Introduction"; (2)"Establishing a National Identity in Curriculum"; (3) "Curriculum Structure and National Identity"; (4) "Formation (Bildung) and the Celebration of Principle and of Both-And"; (5) "Personal Identity-Nation State Identity"; and (6) "Concluding Comments." A 22-item reference list concludes the paper. (EH)