In the late 1940s and 1950s American Catholic educators faced the dilemma of how to transmit Catholic faith and culture to the next generation while also reassuring their non-Catholic neighbors that they were fully American in lifestyle and loyalties. This article examines one response to that dilemma: the convergence of public and Catholic school civics curricula through the widespread use of experiential pedagogy in Catholic civics education. Using a content analysis of civics textbooks and teacher's guides from both school systems, this article demonstrates how both kinds of schools converged on an experiential style of civics education, despite vocal opposition to “progressive” pedagogy at elite levels of Catholic educational discourse. The article then presents a partial explanation for this dissonance, demonstrating the moral certainty exhibited in the same Catholic-school textbooks, and suggesting that Catholic educationists understood American Catholics to be morally privileged in a way that gave them special insight into American democracy and protected them from the negative influences of secular educational philosophy. This case study speaks to larger questions of how organizations manage conflicts between abstract principles and practical action, and suggests the value of including religious schools in the sociological study of “loose coupling” in educational organizations.

中文翻译：

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冷战初期的天主教公民教育：对民主的热情，对基督的热情

在 1940 年代后期和 50 年代，美国天主教教育工作者面临着如何将天主教信仰和文化传播给下一代的困境，同时又要让他们的非天主教邻居放心，他们在生活方式和忠诚度上完全是美国人。本文研究了对这一困境的一种回应：通过在天主教公民教育中广泛使用体验式教学法，公立学校和天主教学校公民课程的融合。本文通过对两种学校系统的公民教科书和教师指南进行内容分析，展示了两种学校如何融合在公民教育的体验式风格上，尽管在天主教教育话语的精英阶层中强烈反对“进步”教学法。然后文章对这种不和谐进行了部分解释，证明了同一所天主教学校教科书中所表现出的道德确定性，并暗示天主教教育家理解美国天主教徒在道德上享有特权，这使他们对美国民主有了特殊的洞察力，并保护他们免受世俗教育哲学的负面影响。本案例研究探讨了组织如何管理抽象原则与实际行动之间的冲突的更大问题，并提出了将宗教学校纳入教育组织“松散耦合”社会学研究的价值。并暗示天主教教育家理解美国天主教徒在道德上享有特权，这使他们对美国民主有特殊的洞察力，并保护他们免受世俗教育哲学的负面影响。本案例研究探讨了组织如何管理抽象原则与实际行动之间的冲突的更大问题，并提出了将宗教学校纳入教育组织“松散耦合”社会学研究的价值。并暗示天主教教育家理解美国天主教徒在道德上享有特权，这使他们对美国民主有特殊的洞察力，并保护他们免受世俗教育哲学的负面影响。本案例研究探讨了组织如何管理抽象原则与实际行动之间的冲突的更大问题，并提出了将宗教学校纳入教育组织“松散耦合”社会学研究的价值。