Can Education Transform the World?

Abstract

The author discusses what it means to be a “good” citizen in a democracy, whether schools are teaching children to be good citizens, and ways to implement citizenship education in schools.

Key words::

• citizenship education
• civic education
• democratic citizens

Acknowledgments

Parts of this article are adapted from the author's book What Kind of Citizen? Educating Our Children for the Common Good (Westheimer, 2015). The author would like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa, and Matt Brillinger, Agata Soroko, and Karen Suurtamm for research support.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joel Westheimer

Joel Westheimer is University Research Chair in Democracy and Education at the University of Ottawa. He is the author of What Kind of Citizen? Educating Our Children for the Common Good (Teachers College Press, 2015) and was invited to the KDP Laureate Chapter in 2015. Follow @joelwestheimer. Info: joelwestheimer.org. Email: [email protected]