February 16, 2015 - 15:13
I really enjoyed Levinson’s “The Civic Empowerment Gap,” although there were a few parts that I wish the chapter had included. First, I wish she had talked more about how the new civics classes could better engage students like Travis and Laquita. It is great that she speaks about the need to not just teach old-school civics class, and she seems to be using Tuck’s desire-based rather than damage-based approach, but the chapter left me hanging on how that would be shaped into a many year long curriculum. I did really appreciate though her discussion of she had to "back up" to explain the events of September 11th, and how her students' guess that Bush had organized the attacks was very much grounded in a government that hadn't served ther communitites.
Second, I wish she had elaborated more on the importance of having students from low-income, non predominantly white communities engage in civic participation. She mentions that it would help their communities, and also the nation as a whole, but I did not fully comprehend what kind of concrete changes she thinks would stem from it. This is not to say that I don’t think it is a good idea, because that is not the case, but I wish she had spoken more about why it is such a good idea. Does she think it would help to have politicians who have grown up in those communities because they would better understand issues facing the communities? Or does she think generally having a diverse group of politicians is helpful to bring in more perspectives? Does she think neither of these things?
Lastly, and this is a super specific point, I wish she had mentioned how incarceration has robbed many low-income ethnic/racial minority communities of political power. She speaks a lot about how education level, income, and race/ethnicities affect voter turnout, but doesn’t mention that many states take away the right to vote for people in prison, or convicted of felonies.
I also realize that this is one chapter in a whole book, so there is a good chance that these things are included elsewhere!