ABSTRACT
Walter Parker called public schools a singularly important space for “civic apprenticeship” (1996, p. 3). Public schools, he argues, are perfect places to practice citizenship because they already possess the bedrocks of democratic living-diversity and mutuality. A diverse group of children live and learn together, on equal status. Schools are “laboratories of democracy” (Parker, 1996, p. 10): through teaching civic knowledge and practicing civic behavior we help youth “live” the kind of citizen they can become.
