Cultivating sprouts of benevolence: a foundational principle for curriculum in civic and multicultural education

A central goal of civic and multicultural education is preparing young people to participate in deliberatively informed action on important social issues. In order to achieve this goal, educators need to cultivate young people's innate but partial 'sprouts' of benevolence, which are r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMulticultural Education Review Vol. 12; no. 3; pp. 157 - 176
Main Authors Barton, Keith C., Ho, Li-Ching
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Routledge 02.07.2020
Subjects
Altruism
Civic education
Civics
Curriculum
Empathy
Logical Thinking
Multicultural Education
multicultural education; social studies; compassion; Confucianism
Psychological Patterns
Refugees
Social Action
Social Problems
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Summary:A central goal of civic and multicultural education is preparing young people to participate in deliberatively informed action on important social issues. In order to achieve this goal, educators need to cultivate young people's innate but partial 'sprouts' of benevolence, which are rooted in feelings of empathy and compassion. Without a sense of benevolence, students are unlikely to be motivated to deliberate and take action on the needs of others. Consequently, curriculum related to public issues should begin by engaging students with knowledge of other people's lives and concrete circumstances. By encountering rich and emotionally compelling accounts of the lives of others, students' sense of benevolence can be extended beyond the people and situations they know best. This forms the basis for subsequent curriculum encounters with differing perspectives and worldviews, as well as with structural causes of social issues and potential implications of civic action taken to address them.
ISSN:2005-615X
2377-0031
DOI:10.1080/2005615X.2020.1808928