Erasing Ethnocentrism: Analysis of the District of Columbia’s Coverage of International Relations in Public High School Curriculum

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Erin Robinson and Dr. J. Merrell Hanson, Teacher Education

Although the study of international relations is essential to undermining racism and ensuring an economic edge, many scholars cite its deficiency in America’s public high schools. This analysis surveyed high schools in Washington, D.C. to evaluate their international relations topics coverage.

Dr. Hansen and I evaluated international relations coverage for several reasons. The United States’ recent war with Iraq and the events of September 11, 2001, have confirmed the importance of understanding international relations (IR) to prevent future international conflict. According to many scholars, understanding IR is essential to erasing American ethnocentrisms, ensuring a business, political, and economic edge, and operating in a 21st century of globalization. The public schools have received the bulk of the responsibility for developing IR understanding. Yet scholars have criticized United States high schools for their lack of international relations education. For example, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education estimates that only 5% of the nation’s teachers have had any academic training in international topics or issues. In the 1990s the Carnegie Foundation ranked the United States second to last in global education, only slightly higher than Israel. Surprisingly, few scholars have evaluated IR in the classroom. In consequence, Dr. Hansen and I developed the following research plan.

Our study raised two questions: First, are high schools teaching international relations? If so, what are they teaching? Our hypothesis was that coverage of international issues is lacking in social studies classrooms. We decided that lack of IR coverage could be defined as less than 5% of total social studies teaching. Our secondary hypothesis was that AIDS would be the IR topic with most coverage, whereas women’s issues would be the topic with least coverage. We tested these hypotheses in Washington, D.C. high schools.

Our findings were striking. In contrast to our negative hypothesis, schools in D.C. are teaching international relations! D.C. high schools are even teaching a wide range of IR topics. Over 75% of the schools responded that they teach the following topics for at least one hour: the United Nations, international monetary institutions (such as the IMF or the World Bank), international trade organizations (such as the WTO), the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and women’s issues.
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Total coverage of international relations far exceeded what we expected. Schools in Washington, D.C. on average teach international relations for 28 hours per class. Assuming a one hour class average and 143 class days (averaging semester and year-long courses), international relations is discussed 20% of the time in social studies classes (see graph above). This figure is four times above the figure we used to define lack of IR coverage (5%). Our results show that District of Columbia Public Schools have adequate coverage of international relations topics.
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Which topics did D.C. schools covered the most? Our results show two subjects were covered more than any other topics: women’s issues, and the Israel-Palestine conflict. Surprisingly, women’s topics came in first place! Women’s topics was the only topic that all the schools reported covering. Women’s issues were covered an average of four hours per class with 100% of the schools reporting coverage. A close second, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was covered an average of 3.25 hours per class with 75% of schools reporting coverage. AIDS fell in the middle with 2.75 hours of coverage and 50% of schools reporting coverage. Lastly, the two subjects with the least coverage include deforestation and ozone depletion, both with an average of 1.75 hours and only one fourth of D.C. schools reporting coverage.

Dr. Hansen and I encountered several problems during the course of this research project. Although we sent surveys to each public and private school in the District of Columbia, we had fewer responses than we expected (see end note 6). Even though the number of public and private schools in D.C. are essentially equal, 75% of our responses came from public schools and 25% came from private schools. In consequence, we recommend further research be done on this topic by expanding the survey size to several school districts in the greater D.C. area, and using additional incentives to gain greater participation from private schools.

References

  • Zevin, Jack. 1993. World studies in secondary schools and the undermining of ethnocentrism. Social Studies 84, no. 2:82-86.
  • Study Commission on Global Education. 1987. The United States prepares for its future: global perspective in education. New York: Global Perspectives in Education, Inc. pp. 12-3.
  • Mansfield, Merry M., Elaine Jarchow, and Sarah Pickert. 1997. Preparing teachers to teach global perspectives: a handbook for teacher educators. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
  • Merryfield, Merry M. 1991. Journal of Teacher Education 42, no. 1:11-20.
  • Boyer, Ernest, Philip Altbach, and Mary Jean Whitelaw. 1994. The Academic Profession: An international perspective. Princeton, New Jersey: Carnegie Foundation.
  • Please note that our results are not statistically significant and should not be relied on heavily in determining D.C. IR coverage. Although we made our best attempt to contact as many schools in D.C. as possible, we only received results for four schools. Due to the necessity of creating a final report, we used the four schools’ data and created results based on their responses. We would recommend a subsequent research project using several school districts in the greater D.C. area to achieve a greater response rate.
  • Although there were twelve subjects in the survey, we only have room to report on these five. Please contact Erin or Dr. Hansen for more information on more comprehensive results.