This is the first part of a two-part essay on the need to reengage with civics education in the United States. Read the second part here.
How about a ceasefire in the civics wars? Possibly even a peace treaty? This could turn out to be easier to achieve than pausing the conflict in Gaza (or Kashmir or Sudan).
The world’s big fights generally arise from opposed interests and disputes over fundamentals, and looking from afar at American civics education, one might think the same: hopeless divisions over what should happen in classrooms, textbooks and assessments. Should it focus on “how government works” or “what can I do to change things?” Is this subject about knowledge or action, information or attitudes, facts or dispositions? Rights or obligations?
Yet, unlike disputes that pit country against country and terrorist against nation state, much of the civics conflict is unnecessary. It is driven more by cultural combatants and politicians than by vast divides among parents and citizens regarding what schools should teach and children should learn. If those who inflame these debates would hold their fire, cool curricular heads — there are plenty around — could successfully build on the latent accord among parents and taxpayers who are the consumers of civics education.
The evidence has been rolling in for years
The University of Southern California’s Dornsife Center, for example, surveyed 1,500 K-12 parents in 2021 and reported that respondents, “across political parties feel it is important or very important for students to learn about:
how the U.S. system of government works (85%),
requirements for voting (79%), the U.S.’s leadership role in the world (73%),
the federal government’s influence over state and local affairs (72%),
how students can get involved in local government or politics (71%),
benefits and challenges of social programs like Medicare and Social Security (64%), and
contributions of historical figures who are women (74%) and racial/ethnic minorities (71%).”
A year later, the Jack Miller Center, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that focuses on civics and history, surveyed parents of elementary and secondary school students and found that “89% agree that a civic education about our nation’s founding principles is ‘very important.’ ”
This semi-consensus also extends to history class: “Over 92% of parents believe that the achievements of key historical figures should be taught even if their views do not align with modern values — cutting against the narrative that America is firmly divided on how to teach students about the founders and the country’s history.”
As is clear from Dornsife’s percentages, there isn’t total consensus, just widespread agreement on fundamentals. Get into hot topics like gender, abortion and racism, and plenty of Americans want their kids’ schools to convey a one-sided view or avoid the issue altogether.
Yet nearly everyone wants students to:
learn how to analyze issues,
to understand why people argue about them, and
how a democratic republic attempts to navigate them.
Nearly everyone wants kids to understand these mechanisms:
why the United States has the kind of government it does,
where it came from,
how it works, and
the principles that drive it.
And everyone, I’m pretty sure, wants their children to grow up to be good citizens.
