It’s 1779. Having broken from Britain, the American colonists are halfway through the bloody crucible of revolution and war. While Gen. George Washington concentrates his will on defeating the British, Thomas Jefferson already turns toward the next great obstacle: laying the foundations that will allow a new government to secure the people’s safety and happiness. Surprisingly, the foundation most on Jefferson’s mind is not political or even constitutional; it’s educational. A constitutional republic needs enlightened citizens educated for self-government.
To form this foundation of civic education, Jefferson proposed a bill in Virginia to provide tax-funded elementary and secondary schools, what we now call K-12 education. These schools would offer philosophy, history and government — what Jefferson called a “liberal education” — enabling citizens to understand human nature and effectually “guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens.” For Jefferson and the founding generation, a principal purpose of public education is civic education. Thus, subjects like “reading, writing, and common arithmetick” (English, language arts and math) were primarily means to civic ends.
Recognizing that K-12 education is a necessary but insufficient foundation, Jefferson would later propose a bill establishing the University of Virginia. Nor was Jefferson alone in this endeavor. President Washington advocated repeatedly for the establishment of a national university and “(e)ducation generally as one of the surest means of enlightening and giving just ways of thinking to our Citizens.”
Crucially, Jefferson’s 1779 proposal also provided for scholars from the College of William and Mary to offer texts and materials for these new schools, creating a mutually supportive relationship between K-12 and higher education.
Yet despite this auspicious beginning to K-16 civic education, more recent developments have seen governments, universities and academic disciplines neglecting civic K-16 education for decades. In K-12, math, science and language arts are tested, but not social studies. In higher education, the very academic disciplines that should be stewards of our civic traditions have abandoned the study of our constitutional inheritance. With few exceptions, scholarly expertise on the American founding and the Constitution are rare commodities in the typical university faculty.
In 2021, the Utah Legislature made an important stride in remedying this decades-long neglect. Rep. Jefferson Burton (no relation to the author), R-Salem, proposed HB327, establishing the Civic Thought and Leadership Initiative, or CTLI, within the Center for Constitutional Studies at Utah Valley University to “facilitate nonpartisan political discussion and provide civic education and research.” It also tasked CTLI with providing “courses in and related to philosophy, history, economics, and political science,” the very subjects Thomas Jefferson thought were so important for enlightened citizens.
In just two years, and following Thomas Jefferson’s vision of K-16 partnerships, CTLI has become the premier provider of K-12 civics professional development in the state, offering over 7,075 training hours to more than 600 K-12 educators and impacting 122,000 K-12 students statewide. At UVU, CTLI professors have taught the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in courses to over 2,000 undergraduates and sponsored civic events attended by almost 10,000 Utahns.
Later this week, the CTLI will hold its largest civic professional development yet: 140 K-12 teachers will participate in a Regional Civic Training at Southern Utah University on Jan. 30, sponsored by Utah’s America 250 Commission and in partnership with the Bill of Rights Institute and the We the People program. Teachers will study the foundational principles of the Declaration and the way those principles are secured in the Constitution, all in alignment with Utah’s social studies standards.
This year is the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. What greater commemoration could we leave to future generations than making this the year in which we restore the place of civic education in our public institutions?
As Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz has rightly said, “We have an opportunity to turn the tide and have higher ed refocus on what’s most important.” We hope this tide will include a renewed commitment to constitutionally based civic education, as well as workforce needs and industry demands.
CTLI and its work is just the beginning for Utah. If we are to foster a renaissance of civic education in our public schools, much more must be done. An understanding of the principles, institutions, and history that comprise our shared constitutional inheritance is indispensable to preserving and improving it for future generations. We neglect it at the peril of our state and our republic.
The authors do not speak on behalf of, nor do the views expressed necessarily represent, Utah Valley University.