Teaching Civics

This year’s presidential election was an historical event.  For many Americans this was the first time they felt empowered by the election process.   Unfortunately after the limelight fades many will allow the work of government to continue without interest or input.   The attitude and approach to civic education is an often-neglected one, yet it plays a critical role in determining how children develop, how they will view themselves as citizens and later apply their learning to community involvement. 

How can we teach our children to respect the rule of law if they do not understand the reasons for the rule?  Children must learn the importance of participatory democracy and they can only do that by understanding the history behind the struggle for a representative government and the right to vote.

Civics education does not have a benchmark standard in many of our schools.  Yet teachers can incorporate civic lessons into many parts of the curriculum.  In the movie Mr. Holland’s Opus, Richard Dreyfuss played a band teacher.   He captured the importance of civics in this speech.

He said, “We need to remind our kids and ourselves of the importance of where we come from.  We have to paint a picture of republican democracy that is as romantic and irresistible as it really is.  We have to teach our children our history, our mythology, our culture, with passion, with wit, with rigor; and by doing that, we will create the possibility of that civic virtue that ties thinking individuals to their communities.”

Some simple lessons for teachers are:

1. The Day I Was Born – students practice online research by using their birth date to determine historical and literary figures that share their birthdays.  Student can compare their figure to current day American and imagine how their person would act in today’s current political climate.
2. Why do civilizations fall?  Students can do online research on ancient civilizations and construct timelines for their demise, make compassions to current day problems, and hypothesis solutions.
3. The right to vote.  Students can chronicle the struggles of women gaining the right to vote in American and other countries, and the civil rights movement.
4. Peace Corps project.  Visit Worldwise schools at www.peacecorps.gov/wws/ for lesson plans and information to connect with Peace Corps volunteers.  Students can gain understanding on this global scale community involvement.
5. Arrest.  The purpose of the activity “arrest: is to give students first hand knowledge about an arrest of a classmate and their subsequent trial.  Students become active participants in the legal process as they become witnesses, jurors and defendants in a trial simulation.

Encouraging active citizenship among the young requires more than just election year reminders to study the issues or watch the candidates.   It means teaching students the founding principles and understanding how they should apply today.    Allow students to practice freedom by giving them a real voice in shaping the school culture.  Creating a free student press and encouraging freedom of expression.   Schools are the best place to teach students how to engage in vigorous robust debate while keeping a tone of civility and respect.   And last students must practice tolerance by learning about other world religions and cultures.   Ignorance and hatred are the greatest threats to our democracy.