If the current Presidential election debacle is any
indication of the need for an educated electorate, then parents and community
leaders should be running, not walking, to their schools and demanding a more
rigorous and serious civics curriculum.
Two Declaration of Independence signers, Dr. Benjamin Rush and Thomas
Jefferson, believed that in order for the fledgling democracy, known as the
United States of America, to succeed and survive, then the country needed to
have an educated populace.
In a recent article in RandReview Magazine, Anna Saavedra, a
policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, noted, “ US democracy depends on
citizens’ investment in the constitutional foundation on which the country
stands.” We are not born with these skills- they need to be learned. Some of
the latest examples are those Middle Eastern and African nations that were
liberated from dictatorships and told- “ Now go form a democracy.” We have seen
in the news what happens.
Unfortunately with the advent of school STEM programs and
the Common Core State Standards, classroom teachers are focusing on what needs
to be learned for the standardized tests and civics is not at the top of that
list and has been relegated to the back of the classroom.
Author Saavedrea observed that student would do well to
engage in civics on a project based curriculum and that classroom teachers need
to obtain additional training. She also felt that the “Every Student Succeeds
Act” signed by President Obama last year is a positive step to provide funding
for social studies, history and civics.
There is no better time than now to get on this bandwagon.
C. 2016 J. Margolis
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