Suchergebnisse

Abstract
This article explores the role of public schooling in preparing youth to engage in civic reasoning and civic action. The current challenges in the public arena—a pandemic, economic depression, civil unrest over continued systemic racism—illustrate the complexity of sense-making required to address these conundrums. At the same time, these challenges highlight inequities that have persisted over the course of U.S. history. The article further explores the mix of challenges and opportunities that the structure of the U.S. government poses to citizens hoping to grapple with these complexities, arguing that the knowledge base required to meet these civic challenges and opportunities are not just cognitive but epistemological and ethical. The article concludes that the development of such a complex knowledge base must be distributed across the K–12 public education sector: not limited to civics classes, but distributed across all the disciplines taught in schools.

Abstract
This article explores the role of public schooling in preparing youth to engage in civic reasoning and civic action. The current challenges in the public arena—a pandemic, economic depression, civil unrest over continued systemic racism—illustrate the complexity of sense-making required to address these conundrums. At the same time, these challenges highlight inequities that have persisted over the course of U.S. history. The article further explores the mix of challenges and opportunities that the structure of the U.S. government poses to citizens hoping to grapple with these complexities, arguing that the knowledge base required to meet these civic challenges and opportunities are not just cognitive but epistemological and ethical. The article concludes that the development of such a complex knowledge base must be distributed across the K–12 public education sector: not limited to civics classes, but distributed across all the disciplines taught in schools.

Objective: The purpose of this research was to (a) learn how confident social work students were with social work with groups' ethics and standards, (b) explore strengths and challenges, (c) examine if group work experience impacts results, and (d) discover if confidence improved when the International Association of Social Work with Groups (IASWG) Standards became required class reading. Method: Social work students ( n = 234) were given the Inventory of Foundation Competencies in Social Work with Groups (IC-SWG) at the beginning and end of 15-week group work classes. Descriptive statistics, analyses of variance, and t tests were conducted. Results: Students' scores improved from pretest to posttest ( p = .000). They were confident in their ability to respect and highly value diversity (mean = 3.5/4) but were challenged employing special skills with and understanding dynamics of mandated clients (2.99/4). Conclusion: Incorporation of the IASWG Standards and group work experience were associated with greater competencies. The IC-SWG identified challenges that can be addressed in classrooms, field internships, and group work practice settings.

The US population will age rapidly for several decades and then more slowly, with less aging than most rich nations. Health of the elderly has greatly improved, but disability stagnated after 2000. Retirement age reversed its decline in the mid-1990s and health status leaves ample room for increased elder labor supply. Many older people have inadequate retirement savings and face additional risks including uncertainty about both public and private pensions and health insurance. Population aging may cause a small decline in rates of return. The main problem is the impact of population aging on public programs for the elderly.