Civics

Civic Lessons

(Released to the web December 10, 2006)

Uninformed and unengaged. Those are the words often used by members of senior generations to describe the level of civics understanding in our youth. Is there truth to this? If true, is there a way to fix the problem?

In modern public school systems the testing and accountability culture and the legal requirements of that culture have pushed out anything not related to basic math and literacy, with an occasional bone given to science. Social studies gets short shrift, certainly, and civics, the component of social studies that used to be worthy of a separate mention, has been missing in action for many years.

An April 23, 2006 article in the San Diego Union-Tribune quoted Superintendent of Los Angeles Schools Roy Romer:

“Quite often, the tests that states will use for No Child Left Behind will be only on certain core subjects, such as language arts and math and sometimes science, and school systems, if not careful, can be warped into the neglect of social studies.”

This observation is echoed by educators and others across the nation. In the same article, Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman justice of the Supreme Court, noted that civics lessons were "routinely required at several levels in high school and it was integrated into the grade-school curriculum as well. And that just has disappeared.”

Closer to home, parents in Readington are often surprised by the disjointed social studies curriculum, the lack of attention to understanding American principles over raw facts, and sometimes just plain misinformation. Some of this relates to practices in Readington, some of it relates to poorly designed state guidelines. Students are being taught that the United States is a democracy, versus the correct constitutional republic and most students would not know the critical difference. They are also being taught that the long serving melting pot analogy to explain American unity is no longer valid and that it is more important to delineate people along lines of culture, of ancestry and of religion. Diversity guidelines have helped to stress an association with "my" people instead of a common set of ideas that make up the American experience. These sorts of mistakes begin to add up to a disturbing total, one that is not particularly suited for the vision of our founders.

Ironically, as our children are being taught in a manner that misses the point or misses the facts, the US Citizenship and Immigration Service is revising the naturalization exam for new citizens so as to focus on the concepts of democracy and citizenship rather than raw facts. The idea is to encourage more participation and deeper understanding in new citizens. The American experiment began with warnings from the founders that a citizenry educated in the ways and means of intelligent participation and debate is a prerequisite for long term success. One wonders if our naturalized citizens will be able to carry the extra weight of responsibility never shouldered by our youth.

Experts who have closely examined civics and social studies curriculum and teaching practices in modern schools are worried and they have specific recommendations. The worry is that students are being raised without an understanding of the concepts behind American government and that young people come to feel disconnected from civic responsibility. Lacking understanding or connection, these youth grow up expecting government to solve problems for them yet they are unaware of any compelling reason to participate in the process and they lack the skills to do so anyway.

Some recommendations from experts include:

Specific time dedicated to civics lessons
A greater emphasis on first-person historical accounts and primary sources over pre-digested texts
Physical visits to historical sites and voting booths
The study of conceptual principles over memorization of dates and documents, including broad principles like justice, liberty, equality, federalism, democracy, etc.
Promoting strategies to think critically, to deliberate with others and to challenge authority in healthy ways.
Encouraging a visceral understanding of American principles and political practices through role play and the application to problems directly affecting students and their interests.

Parents who do not have the time for public schools to wake up and address these issues before their children leave the system may want to supplement at home. A previous article on this website had suggestions for sharing the American experience with children. For deeper information and strategies useful for both parents and for teachers, the web links below are a good place to start.

Civics policy and teaching strategies:

http://www.civicmissionofschools.org/

http://www.cived.net/tioce.html

http://matrix.msu.edu/~civics/teachers/cases.php

http://www.archives.gov/education/index.html

http://www.civiced.org/campaign_proposal.html

http://www.congresslink.org/

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/index.html

For kids:

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/

http://www.indivisible.org/home.htm

http://www2.hsp.org/exhibits/strangers/index.html