BRI Teacher Council Member Explains The Importance of Civics Education
<p><em>By Laura Nelson</em></p>
<p>Much can be said about the current state of civics education today. To put it mildly, we’re facing an uphill battle. There is a lack of civic trust and understanding.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/06/06/public-trust-in-government-1958-2022/">Pew Research</a> survey, only about 20 percent of participants said they trust the government to do what is right “just about always” or “most of the time.” The survey also <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/12/13/striking-findings-from-2022/">found 53 percent of Republicans and 43 percent of Democrats</a> identified members of the opposing party as having four or more negative traits, including being dishonest, immoral, unintelligent, and lazy.</p>
<p>Additionally, in a <a href="https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/americans-civics-knowledge-drops-on-first-amendment-and-branches-of-government/">2022 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey</a>, less than half of the respondents could name all three branches of government. When asked about the First Amendment, about a quarter said they don’t know or couldn’t name even one of its components. So how do we uphold the constitutional purpose of forming a more perfect union, when we don’t understand what the union is and don’t respect the other half of its members?</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, these questions are on a lot of minds. There are <a href="https://naeducation.org/educating-for-civic-reasoning-and-discourse/">multiple</a> <a href="https://www.educatingforamericandemocracy.org/">reports</a>, and even <a href="https://civxnow.org/our-work/federal/">acts of Congress</a>, that presume civic education has a significant role to play in improving the state of our union. As these macro-level discussions continue, there are simple things we as teachers can incorporate today to help our students re-forge our union. These include providing real-life civic experiences, valuing the complexity of our system, and imparting skills to help students assess what they see online.</p>
<p>To counter the lack of civic knowledge, there are many programs to help increase student engagement and improve understanding of our government systems. The Bill of Rights Institute provides a perfect opportunity with the <a href="https://billofrightsinstitute.org/my-impact-challenge">MyImpact Challenge</a> Students engage in civic learning through MyImpact Challenge by developing service projects in their communities to address issues important to them.</p>
<p>There are countless other programs to give students hands-on civic experience: Serving as student election judges, running school elections, and participating in a <a href="https://www.legion-aux.org/ala-girls-state">Girls</a>/<a href="https://www.legion.org/boysnation/about">Boys</a> State or <a href="https://www.ymca.org/what-we-do/youth-development/education-leadership/government">Youth-in and Government</a> event, just to name a few. In addition to increasing civic understanding, students get to practice civic involvement and interact with those with differing views.</p>
<p>As we become more <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/06/12/section-1-growing-ideological-consistency/#interactive">ideologically divided</a>, we become less accepting of those with whom we disagree. But as the leaders of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/02/our-democracy-is-ailing-civics-education-has-be-part-cure/">Educating for American Democracy Initiative</a> point out, “disagreement is a feature, not a bug, of our constitutional democracy.” We need to help our students find ways to disagree civilly and productively. Empathy and taking the perspectives of others should be commonplace. Our system of government is intentionally complex and requires consensus to be successful. To ensure our union, we need to build civil relationships.</p>
<p>One of the key causes of division is the spreading of misinformation, so part of civic education should be developing skills to assess the reliability of information students come across. This means being able to recognize bias and the types of arguments being used, and how to fact-check sources. The Bill of Rights Institute’s <a href="https://billofrightsinstitute.org/curricula/media-and-american-democracy">Media and American Democracy</a> curricula is an excellent source of lesson plans and resources to help students build competence in this important aspect of civics.</p>
<p>Achieving a more perfect union will require work at multiple levels, but we in education have an important part to play. Through encouraging civic participation, celebrating the myriad of voices that make our government work, and preparing students to evaluate the information around them, we can prepare them to continually improve the union the Constitution began.</p>
<p><em>Laura Nelson is a teacher at the Academy for Sciences & Agriculture in Vadnais Heights, MN. She is also a member of the Bill of Rights Institute’s National Teacher Council.</em></p>