A Case for Civics Education
How can we use the past to help create a more perfect union that was intended by the founders of the United States?
I begin this month’s post with the following:
“We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
I thought about these words more in the last year than I probably have in my thirty years on this planet. I think about them, not because of the “We the People” line like most people tend to quote, but I like to think of the next part, “in order to form a more perfect Union.” I say this now because of the recent push for civics education in America’s schools. And what better place could possibly be better to help create a more perfect union than our schools. I firmly believe that schools are a place where someone can better their lives and that education can be a great tool for success. School leaders grapple with ways to engage all sorts of students through various avenues such as trades and skills for students who do not want to go the college route. Those are great avenues to explore, but there is something that I believe all students need to be a part of and stay consistent, that is civics education.
History as a whole is ugly, people have made mistakes, but it is those mistakes that help us learn and try to create a more perfect union generation by generation. In the wake of the most recent presidential election, the polarization of the political spectrum, and the toxic environment of various social media groups, along with the events of January 6th, have proven that this is a time more than ever to teach civics. In March, the Wall Street Journal highlighted this need and noted that six former US education secretaries signed on to support civics education K-12 and support the sentiments in the article. Now is the time to help educators work with our students from elementary school to high school and change the way we teach history and civics. It is noted that there is an incredible emphasis on STEM as opposed to civics education, but we can use STEM as an asset for teaching about civic duty and history. As a teacher who utilizes copious amounts of educational technology, we need to provide educators with the STEM mindset to use toward educating our students about civics (more to come on this at a later date).
In 2021 there are so many great tools in order to engage students with civic education. To start, the Educating for American Democracy initiative, has provided a set of guidelines for helping teachers guide through the waters of civics education. Recently, they have teamed up with iCivics to create a curriculum for educators, by educators. Now, before I move forward, iCivics is such a fantastic resource for teachers that many use already at the upper levels, but it can be tailored for all students. Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor founded iCivics in 2009 to be an outlet for students to learn about our country’s government using all sorts of readings, graphics, lessons, and games. Since 2009, iCivics has grown, and has been a leading force in the push for civics education. There are also tons of materials and films to help teach civics, from The West Wing to Hamilton, the ability to engage students has never been better than it is today.
On that note, this past summer I saw Hamilton for the first time and the first thing I did was find out how I could use this in the classroom, while also listening to the soundtrack as I worked. This is such a fantastic production to tell the story about one of the most underappreciated founding fathers. I also have been reading the book by Ron Chernow. The book adds such a level of depth to Hamilton and his relationship with the other founding fathers such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. His relationship with these men helped shape not only our government, but the political party system that Washington told us to avoid. I believe that Hamilton can be such a great tool in the classroom to teach about the formation of the Constitution, political parties and a little bit of how some of those early deals were made in “the room where it happens.”
To wrap up this month’s post, I could go on and on about civics education and how it can help ease our country’s polarized political spectrum. By utilizing the right mindset and tools, we need to embrace civics education for all students K-12, so that they can better understand what our country was founded upon and how differing opinions does not necessarily make someone an evil person. We need to learn how to listen to each other and work together to make our country a more perfect Union.
Links:
Educating for American Democracy
Reference:
Opinion | America Needs History and Civics Education to Promote Unity. (2021, March 01). Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-needs-history-and-civics-education-to-promote-unity-11614641530