After a 72-year struggle, the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote in 1920. Coupled with the Fifteenth Amendment, which extended voting rights to African American men, the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment transformed the power and potency of the American electorate. This article invites the…

"Principled Resistance: How Teachers Resolve Ethical Dilemmas" brings together senior scholars and activist teachers to explore the concept of resistance as a necessary response to mandates that conflict with their understanding of quality teaching. The book provides vivid examples of the pedagogical, professional, and democratic…

Why do teachers need to be familiar with human rights? In multicultural societies, whose values take precedence? How do schools resolve tensions between children's rights and teachers' rights? Campaigners, politicians and the media cite human rights to justify or challenge anything from peaceful protest to military action. The phrase "human…

In the United States, the right to a fair trial is protected by the Constitution. The ideal of justice is a critical underpinning of the democracy. However, while the United States is a model of an honorable and just court system most of the time, our constitutional rights are occasionally stretched or broken. The rationale is often national…

With contributions from leading experts across disciplinary fields, this book explores best practices from the field's most notable researchers, as well as important historically based and politically focused challenges to a field whose impact has reached an important crossroads. The comprehensive and powerfully critical analysis considers the…

Spirituals are religious folk songs that were created and sung by enslaved African Americans to express the emotions and thoughts of a people in bondage. The spiritual conveyed deep religious convictions and the desire for freedom brought on by two centuries' worth of oppression, as slavery was legal in the United States from approximately 1650…

This article describes several websites that can be used to encourage students to vote. These include "The Democracy Project: Inside the Voting Booth" sponsored by PBS. This site addresses three elementary topics: how one vote has made a difference in U.S. history, how the right to vote has gradually been expanded to include minorities (African…

Exposure to ideas helps young children articulate their own beliefs and sharpens their connections. Teachers can provide opportunities for children to advance their knowledge about democratic conditions through sustained discourse, or, as described in this article, purposeful class discussions followed by hands-on activities. The author describes…

On May 6-7, 2006 FPRI's Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education hosted 44 teachers from 16 states across the country for a weekend of discussion on teaching about Islam. Speakers were drawn from the disciplines of religious studies, anthropology, political science, history, law, and journalism. The institute, held in Bryn Mawr, Pa., was…

This book is a guide to creating a democratic classroom management style that serves as a real-life model for the same system of rules and responsibilities under which students will live when they leave school. The ideas are based on ethical, educational, and legal perspectives for school rules and decisions based on a democratic form of…

This article presents an instructional strategy that helps young students perform critical literacy practices that incorporate democratic ideals. The model outlines a plan to stimulate young people's critical engagement with social justice issues. The model features an actual historical event involving young activists in civil rights. The author…

This curriculum guide incorporates three dimensions of human rights education: teaching about human rights, teaching against human rights violations, and teaching for the creation of a world in which all human beings are treated with justice and dignity. The book is based upon the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).…

This monograph contains a critical examination of President Carter's view on ethics and foreign policy as expressed in his commencement speech at Notre Dame University on May 22, 1977. The book is organized into three parts. Part 1 contains Mr. Carter's speech entitled, "Power for Humane Purposes." Part 2 contains nine responses to the…

India, a huge land with the second largest population in the world, socially and economically poor, and culturally and linguistically diverse, became the largest democracy in the world on November 26, 1949 with the adoption of the Indian Constitution. The goals of that constitution are: (1) the achievement of national unity and stability; (2) the…

Twenty activities and seven educational objectives help teachers inform students of their rights as citizens. Each objective is demonstrated through the use of one or more activities that help students experience the learning for themselves. Each activity consists of teaching procedures and student handouts. Section 1 is an examination of the Bill…