The notion that American schools ought to pay more attention to civics is difficult to argue against. In the race to emphasize science, technology, engineering and math — vitally important subjects, all — civics education has taken a back seat in recent years, and that can have dire implications for the future of democracy.
The Center for American Progress, a liberal public policy and research organization, outlined the problem well recently in a report that noted “civics education across the country has not always increased students’ civic knowledge and engagement, as federal and state funding for civics education has decreased over time.”
It also noted that the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, exams consistently show less than 25% of American students are proficient in the subject. In addition, the situation is worse among minority students than among white students.
The problem is fairly easy to identify, but solutions aren’t. The center recommends, among other things, a strong civics curriculum, followed by “youth participatory action research and youth-led activism.”
But while activism, in the form of protests and demonstrations, is certainly one form of civic engagement, it is not as effective as teaching students how to work within the nation’s civic structures to access power and bring about change.
In a similar report last year, the Brookings Institution outlined six practices for civics education that emphasize learning how democratic institutions work and provide students with “opportunities to participate in the civic life of their communities and learn from this participation as a formal part of their coursework.”
Brookings said only 11 states require some form of service learning, a void that makes high-quality civics education incomplete.
It’s no secret that modern politics is geared primarily toward an older generation. There is a reason why so many presidential candidates are senior citizens. Older Americans vote in large numbers. Younger ones don’t.
We are slightly reassured by recent signs this may be changing. The Census Bureau says, in the 18 to 29 age group, turnout in 2018 was 36%, which represented a 79% inc
If the nation’s civic awareness is going to increase, however, young Americans represent the best hope, and they can be reached most easily through school systems.
rease from the 20% turnout in 2014, the last off-year election. That still is dismal, but it is a noticeable improvement.
Far more important than turnout, however, is a general understanding of how government works, what the Constitution says and why the United States has the form of government it has. That includes learning how to be consistent and savvy consumers of news, a skill that is waning in an age when newspapers are dying and politicians toss about false accusations of fake news.
This problem affects more than just young Americans. The Annenberg Public Policy Center issued a report two years ago finding that 53% of Americans falsely believed undocumented immigrants have no rights under the Constitution, while only 26% could name all three branches of the federal government.
More than one-third of Americans were unable to name any of the five rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, although 48% identified the freedom of speech, when given a prompt.
If the nation’s civic awareness is going to increase, however, young Americans represent the best hope, and they can be reached most easily through school systems. A knowledge of not only how the nation’s government works, but why rights and liberties are important, is essential for the future of the republic.
The Center for American Progress identifies Utah as one of the better states in terms of U.S. government and politics advanced placement test scores, and the 18-to-24 turnout rate here was 33.1%, also relatively high, although far less than Wisconsin’s 46.9%.
Clearly, there is much room for improvement. Also clearly, improvement is essential.