Social/Political Education in Three Countries: Britain, West Germany, and the United States.

Fifteen articles (and four synthesis chapters) compare and contrast objectives, practices, and problems of social/political education in the United States, Great Britain, and West Germany. Social/political education is interpreted to include that area of pre-university teaching referred to in the United States most often as social studies or social science education; in England as social science or social studies; and in Germany as political education. An overview, intended to give the reader a synoptic view of the volume, preceeds articles which are presented in four major topical categories. The first section is concerned with the content and theories that underlie social/political education. The second section deals with what is known about the psychological and social makeup of students and with how students learn. The third section describes knowledge and practices related to curriculum development. The final section describes theories of, and knowledge about, how schools are related to society and to social justice. Major themes which run through the chapters are identified in the introductory overview and in the three concluding synthesis chapters. Themes include the extent to which schools are, and should be, institutions for socializing students; the dilemma over whether the major objective of social/political education should be to make students aware of prevailing knowledge, values, and modes of thought in society or to teach students to become responsible adult political activists who work to change and improve society; whether the curriculum should be discipline/subject-oriented or interdisciplinary/problem-centered; and the difficulties faced by educators as a result of the disappearance of authoritative guides to what knowledge is true and what knowledge is most important. A directory of contributors and their affiliations is included. (Author/DB)