And we also know that much effective civic learning takes place beyond the classroom - in extracurricular activity, service work that is connected to class work, and other ways students experience civic life. We need more and better classes to impart the knowledge of government, history, law and current events that students need to understand and participate in a democratic republic. Research shows that the better people understand our history and system of government, the more likely they are to vote and participate in the civic life. The effect of reduced civic learning on civic life is not theoretical. What remains is a course on "American government" that usually spends little time on how people can - and why they should - participate. Until the 1960s, three courses in civics and government were common in American high schools, and two of them ("civics" and "problems of democracy") explored the role of citizens and encouraged students to discuss current issues. Eighty years ago, John Dewey said, "Democracy needs to be reborn in every generation and education is its midwife."īut in recent years, civic learning has been pushed aside. Our first public schools saw education for citizenship as a core part of their mission.
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As the 2003 report "The Civic Mission of Schools" noted: "Individuals do not automatically become free and responsible citizens, but must be educated for citizenship." That means civic learning - educating students for democracy - needs to be on par with other academic subjects. But most are largely disconnected from current events and issues.Ī healthy democracy depends on the participation of citizens, and that participation is learned behavior it doesn't just happen. Yes, young people remain highly patriotic, and many volunteer in their communities. Two-thirds of 12th-graders scored below "proficient" on the last national civics assessment in 1998, and only 9 percent could list two ways a democracy benefits from citizen participation. With the attention we are paying to advancing democracy abroad, we ought not neglect it at home. This country has long exemplified democratic practice to the rest of the world. We should be equally troubled by another shortcoming in American schools: Most young people today simply do not have an adequate understanding of how our government and political system work, and they are thus not well prepared to participate as citizens. Fierce global competition prompted President Bush to use the State of the Union address to call for better math and science education, where there's evidence that many schools are falling short.
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