Children's Social Consciousness and the Development of Social Responsibility

Sheldon Berman is the Superintendent of Schools in Hudson, Massachusetts. Prior to assuming this superintendency in 1993, he was one of the founders of Educators for Social Responsibility and served as President from 1985 to 1993. He is the co-editor (with Phyllis LaFarge) of Promising Practices in Teaching Social Responsibility, also published by SUNY Press.

"This is not another eclectic survey of school programs aimed at children becoming caring, responsible people. Shelley Berman is deeply knowledgeable about relevant theory, research, and practice, and is able to penetrate to the heart of the matter. He gives us a powerful framework for understanding children's development, and he uses it unerringly to identify the educational approaches that prepare children to live out their roles with integrity and compassion. This work makes an important contribution to the field of social and ethical development." — Eric Schaps, President, Developmental Studies Center"I believe this book pushes the field of educational and developmental psychology to a new level. It addresses some of the most pressing issues of our time. The importance of the development of a socially responsible citizenry capable of working effectively toward the common good cannot be underestimated in a society torn by privatism and individualism as is ours." — Mary Field Belenky, University of Vermont, co-author of Women's Ways of Knowing"Berman pushes us to consider how more than service opportunities or isolated courses in contemporary issues will be needed if students are to become engaged citizens. In doing so, he lays the groundwork for a movement to reclaim the civic purposes that once undergirded American education. Achieving this end will require a transformation of curriculum, instruction, and school structures aimed at incorporating multiple perspectives, providing more room for student voices, and supporting the formation of interactive school communities in which students feel cared for and influential." — Gregory Smith, Lewis and Clark College, author of Education and the Environment: Learning to Live with Limits

• Acknowledgments 1. "I care about the world. But I don't think it concerns me, even though it does." 2. The Development of Social Responsibility The Meaning of Social ResponsibilityModels of DevelopmentThe Early Emergence of Social UnderstandingPatterns of Development: Political ConsciousnessIndividual DifferencesConclusion 3. From Consciousness to Activism Efficacy and ActivismThe Roots of Activism: Moral IntegrityThe Roots of Activism: A Connected Sense of SelfThe Roots of Activism: Meaning and PlaceThe Emergence of ActivismConclusion 4. Processes that Promote Development Modeling and Cooperative, Nurturant Relationships with OthersPerspective Taking and Perspective-Taking DialogueConflict and Equalizing DialogueConclusion 5. Educational Interventions and Social Responsibility A Knowledge Base and an Ideological FrameworkAn Open Classroom ClimateWelcoming Controversy and ConflictParticipation in Decision Making and Democratic GovernanceClassroom Communities of Care and CooperationDirect Engagement in the Social and Political ArenaAn Integration 6. The Current State of Educating for Social Responsibility Social Responsibility in Policy and PracticeThe Reality of Civic Education in the Classroom: Teachers, Texts, and the Conception of CitizenshipPersistent Patterns 7. The Courage to Teach Social Responsibility A New Theoretical FrameworkCreating ChangeA Gift of Strength and  Hope Appendix A: Model District-Wide Curriculum Assessment Bibliography Index