The death of "why?" : the decline of questioning and the future of democracy / Andrea Batista Schlesinger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schlesinger, Andrea Batista.

Series:

BK currents book

A BK currents book

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Youth--Political activity--United States.

Youth.

Youth--Political activity.

United States.

Civics--Study and teaching--United States.

Civics.

Civics--Study and teaching.

Political participation--United States.

Political participation.

Physical Description:

viii, 254 pages ; 22 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

San Francisco : Berrett-Koehler, [2009]

Summary:

Obsessed with answers, we have lost sight of the power and value of questions. Debates over globalization, climate change, health care, and poverty will not be "solved" with simple answers, but that's what Americans are being trained to expect. Andrea Batista Schlesinger argues that we're besieged by cultural forces that urge us to avoid critical thinking and independent analysis. The media reduces politics to a spectator sport, standardized tests teach students to fill in the dots instead of opening their minds, and even the Internet promotes habits that discourage looking deeper

But the situation isn't hopeless. Schlesinger profiles individuals and institutions renewing the practice of inquiry-particularly in America's youth-at a time when our society demands such activity from us all. Our resilience will depend on our ability to struggle with what we don't know, to live and think outside comfortable bubbles of sameness, and, ultimately, to ask questions

Contents:

Part I Culture: Questions or Answers? 11

1 Inquiry Is Risky, Resilience Is the Reward, and Other Lessons from Childhood 19

2 Ideological Segregation by Click and by Clique 26

3 Consuming Opinion 43

4 In Google We Trust 57

Part II Schools: Citizens or Consumers? 75

5 The Three Rs and a Why 85

6 No Piggy Bank Left Behind 103

7 Questioning the System, or Beating It? 119

8 The Marxist, Anti-American Conspiracy to Convert Young People to Engaged Citizenship 135

Part III Politics: Engaged or Connected? 147

9 Black and White and Dead All Over 155

10 Who's Afraid of Virginia Youth? 173

11 Lights, Camera, Debate! 190.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781576755853

1576755851

OCLC:

263978176