Research On The Development History Of Center For Civic Education (1964-)

The Center for Civic Education is one of the most influential think tanks in the field of civic education in the United States.Since the establishment of the Center for Civic Education,it has been dedicated to promoting an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy in the United States and other countries.The center has carried out,implemented and developed a series of important activities,key projects and key products in different historical periods,and it also provides consultation on civic education policy for the US government,guides the public opinion of the United States,sets up a series of civic education policy agenda,and puts forward a number of related civic education bills to be passed by the US Parliament.The We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution Program which was developed and initiated by the Center for Civic Education in 1987 has been carried out for 30 years and more than 28 million students and 75,000 educators have participated in the We the People program.In 90 s,the Civics and Government National Standards,which was commissioned by the federal education department has got the response from 49 states in the United States and it becomes an important reference standard for the American Civil Education Assessment Framework.Thanks to the huge support from the federal government,the Institute has developed various civic education courses,textbooks and readings for all kinds of people.Nearly 27 million primary and secondary school students have learned the basic principles of American democracy through the curriculum developed by the federal government.Supported by the federal government of the United States in the mid-90 s of last century,the Center for Civic Education of the United States has implemented the international development strategy vigorously and has established a cooperative relationship with more than 80 countries in the world.Its projects have affected more than 400 thousand teachers and nearly 12 million students worldwide.The Center for Civic Education has initial influence on the United States and even the international civic education.Its history covers the important historical events and key educational reforms after the rise of civil rights movement in the United States.The research on the Development History of Center for Civic Education can effectively expand our understanding of the history of the development of American civic education,deepen our understanding of modern American civic education thought and practice,and it can also provide inspiration for the improvement and development of China's ideological and political education resources system construction as well as provide useful experience for the construction and international development of ideological and political education think tank with Chinese characteristics.This study takes the major historical events as the main basis for the division of the historical stages,so it divides the Development History of the Center for Civic Education into three stages:(1)Prelude to the establishment(1964-1981).This is the history of the transition from an academic institution of college to the famous social institution in California.In this period,the focus of American civic education is to enhance the legal consciousness of the American people and improve their sense of civic responsibility.The center designed and implemented the civic education program such as "law in a free society",and developed civic education courses such as Conflict,Politics and Freedom.The influence extends from very few places of California to the whole State.(2)Early establishment(1981-1994).This is the period for the center to go from California to the whole country.In this period,cultivating responsible and actively participative citizens and carrying out constitutionalism education are important themes of American citizen education.The center developed and implemented program "citizen and constitution" and other major civic education projects and developed civic and constitutional education courses covering all grades of primary and secondary schools in the United States.Its influence extended from California to the United States and has become a nationwide civic education think tank.(3)The period of rapid development(1994-).This is the period of rapid development of the center in the twists and turns.In this period,the compilation of national standards for civic education and the cultivation of active citizens are the main themes of civic education in the United States.The center has successively compiled "A Framework for Civic Education "," National Standards of Civics and Government ",providing high-quality national curriculum standards for civic education.After "9/11 Incident" and other major events after the subprime crisis,the center developed curriculum of the "9/11 and the Constitution",combining with the national policy advocacy coalition of civic education and civic education consulting,which has become an important object of government policy in the United States and further consolidated the status of national think tanks at the same time.Starting from early academic exchanges in the late 60 s to the mid-90 s to fully open the international development strategy,the center has implemented a series of international civic education projects and developed The International Framework for Democratic Education.Being stick to the essential question of "the internal motivation and root cause of the transformation and development of the Center for Civic Education",and with Marx's historical materialism as the guiding ideology,this study investigates the historical clues,response strategies,internal motivation,characteristics of educational practice,the functions of think tanks and the communication strategies of the impact of the development of the Center for Civic Education in the United States,which followed the ideas of "clarifying the historical context-discriminating response strategy-functional use-analysis and criticism" and combined with comprehensive use of historical research,empirical research,comparative research,text analysis and think tank research.The findings of this study include:(1)To have a sustained response to the ideological and strategic level of the era theme of American Civic Education as well as to build a bridge between knowledge and power,is the decisive factor for the transformation and development of the Center for Civic Education.(2)The activities of the Center for Civic Education and the implementation of the project have characteristics of "political,practical and sociality".(3)The center for civic education shows the initial influence of state think tanks in the implementation of the three functions of "setting up and guiding civic education policy agenda,effectively providing civic education products,and promoting civic education in the United States to the world".(4)Building a three-dimensional communication system centered on interpersonal communication,organizational communication and mass communication are important strategies for the influence of the Center for Civic Education.This study is based on the state of our country and the status of Ideological and political education think tank construction and it finally draws the following enlightenment:(1)We should strengthen the country and comparative study of Ideological and political education.(2)Pay high attention to the Ideological Penetration of the global layout of the American think tank on civic education.(3)We should strengthen the construction of a new type of Ideological and political education think tanks with Chinese characteristics.(4)The think tank of Ideological and political education should improve the communication strategy and effect of influence.