What We Need to Do About Civic Education

In The Huffington Post, Peter Lavines blog contained a very interesting post about civic education, or rather the lack of it. He states how 68 percent of young adults don’t even know the rules to voting, thanks to the little education they received in civics. How only 39 states require at least one course in American government, but all 50 states have some sort of standards for social studies; however there are some obstacles that stand in the way of effective education about our government. One of them being how only one class in civics is required; usually at the end of high school education when most students already have “senioritis”. Secondly how this course isn’t really a priority to faculty or students, since there is not standardized test to really see if they learned anything. Only 9 states require for students to pass a history test to graduate, and only 8 of those states require students to pass a civics test in order to graduate. He also says that even though these states require students to pass these tests, it doesn’t really ensure effective learning. Most tests are now only multiple choices, and only require a student to memorize facts; facts that are easily forgotten. Lavine however does recognize that some states actually require students to know how to,” analyze and event, issue, or problem,” in order to successfully pass the course. “In my opinion, these are the outcomes that we want- for the good of our democracy and civil society.” He ends his post by stating how even though all states have standards for social studies; they are all lost with every other subject they have to execute.  How civics classes can help young adults have an interest in news and politics; help them execute knowledgeable arguments. “By that standard we typically fall short.”

I completely agree with Lavine, the same way I agreed with the article in The Christian Science Monitor. Our government doesn't do much to emphasize the importance of civic education in our nation. We can clearly see how it’s not even a priority in the education system. Very little states require students to actually have an effective knowledge about our government. What are the results? Young people lacking knowledge on how to vote. If the education system doesn’t improve things will only get worse. We need states like those few that require actual analysis on events, which actually helps students understand better. “What we expect of ourstudents in civics classes is a good measure of what kind of nation we hope tobe.” I feel that if younger students learn more about civics it will only lead to a better nation, a more educated nation. I think in the end that’s what we really strive for.

 

The threat to American democracy that Romney and Obama aren’t talking about

This article was published by Scott Warren, Iris Chen, and Eric Schwarz in The Christian Science Monitor. Here we read about our public education system, and the lack of its contents. Both president Obama and Governor Romney say they are committed to bettering the public education system. Something our authors think they shouldn’t worry much about, because they don’t really understand what they should be educated on, which is “creating engaged and informed citizens.” Obama and Romney both want to expand educational opportunities; they focus more on getting higher standards, better testing, etc. They do agree that schools have gotten better scores in the past years but they believe that it is a “narrow focus on academics and basic skills.” Their opinion is to teach the younger generations as much about civics as they do about math and science. Getting the younger generations engaged in civic learning will only make our democracy better. They feel that the younger kids get educated on civics and get encouraged to be involved citizens will make them be more involved as they grow up. Involving a lot more civics classes in the education would make a great difference in citizens’ knowledge. "Educational failure puts the United States' future economic prosperity, global position,and physical safety at risk." As the authors said, young people need to become informed, engaged and effective citizens. I completely agree with the authors opinions. Our education system focuses so much on high scores for math and science, and it leaves no room to learn about or government. I myself am pretty good in my math courses, but sometimes I am pretty lost in a government course. Things I should have learned maybe a couple of years ago, I am barely learning now. To be an involved young citizen you need to be an educated citizen, not just on academics but also on civics. If our future president wants to better our education system, they need to not just do it by creating more educational opportunities, but by emphasizing civics education.