Before the midterm elections, I published a post entitled ‘A Long and Winding Path to a Renewed American Future’. In it I touched on the many threats to our country and our democracy from far-right extremist groups that threaten violence and election-denying, fear-mongering politicians that embolden them. Together, these entities are trying to tear this country apart, tear down civil institutions, and defy the rule of law. The toxic and threatening environment that has developed cannot continue. Most would agree, that a course correction needs to occur for us to avoid a potential national unraveling that could lead to widespread violence between American citizens. There are many reasons why we got to this point, but as a nation, we must begin to pivot. Besides just trying to be kinder to our neighbors there are some concrete measures that can be taken that most Americans would support. It’s time to put the work in now. We must move towards rebuilding a baseline of civic accountability, faith in public service, and general national unity. The following are some steps that should be taken, that together over time, can help heal the wounds of a divided country:
(1) the establishment of a national civics curriculum that is taught with the same level of priority as math, science, and history. 2) comprehensive digital media education for high school students, that equips them with the ability to identify reliable sources of information and discern reality and facts from misinformation 3) a compulsory national service program that mandates either military or civil service 4) enactment of impactful, comprehensive immigration reform, 5) reforms of our election system to include ranked-choice primary elections nationwide that encourage more centrist candidates and moderate policy positions.
None of these goals are easy things to accomplish but all are worth it in order for us to dispel distrust between citizens, bring us closer together, and strengthen national solidarity.
Pathways to a Renewed American Future: Step 1, The Creation of a Vigorous, More Fortified National Civics Curriculum.
One of the biggest failings of our education system over the last few decades has been the lack of comprehensive and inspiring civics education in our public and private schools. There are some states and individual school districts that have set up more robust civics curricula than others, but on the whole, we have failed as a country to provide an effective and immersive framework for widespread comprehension of how our representative government works. The reasons schools are not really teaching it anymore are many, including more of a focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) curriculum as well as the creeping fear of controversy and conflict in the classroom over sensitive political topics. The irony of course is that the failure to properly educate young people about how our government works and civic engagement has exponentially increased distrust in institutions and animosity towards our fellow citizens.
As a result, we are sending our young people off into adulthood without sufficient awareness and appreciation of the principles and institutions that are the foundation of our constitutional democracy. While I respect states’ rights regarding the establishment of an overall public education curriculum, on this matter, I believe the Federal Government should put its foot down and mandate the establishment of a more robust civics education and use the power of the purse to ensure its enactment. Allocation of federal funds towards any state’s education budget should be directly tied to the implementation of this new regiment. It is that important. It is more important than ever to tell the story of what binds us together. No less than the future of our country depends on it.
Experts will come up with something more clever and appropriate, but for now, let’s just refer to it as the United States National Instruction for Civics Engagement (USNICE). That has a nice ring to it, right? Anyway, the first official course under this program would start in grade 6. Now that doesn’t mean that students couldn’t be exposed to concepts related to the workings of our government before then though. In most elementary schools, they would be introduced in one form or another. This exposure would just lay the groundwork for the primary curriculum.
Every year, from grade 6 till graduation from High School, students would have to take a civics course. Now the exact progression and details of each course I’ll leave to the education and civics experts. But in a nutshell, there should be increasing exposure, discussion, and hopefully absorption of core ideas and principles. There would also be an exam at the end to test students on what they learned. Yes, I believe there is still some merit in testing to motivate & gauge student comprehension. As students move up through grade levels there should be an increase in participatory exercises and community engagement; essentially, mock sessions of local and national government as well as actually visiting town hall-style meetings and local hearings.
In addition to seeing the workings of local government firsthand, there would also be trips to state capitols to watch laws being debated by state representatives. In their freshman or sophomore year, every student would take a trip to Washington D.C. to spend a week touring the halls of government. They would spend time at the capitol building viewing sessions of congress and speaking with congressmen and women. They would tour the White House, Supreme Court, the Treasury Department, and the Pentagon.
Currently, there is the tradition that many 8th graders across the country have the option to go to Washington D.C. and visit the sites including all of the monuments and museums. But this trip would be mandatory and focus a bit more on the history, philosophies, and processes of our system of government. It would take place at an age where they would hopefully be more cognizant of the workings of government already and have a more serious appreciation for the history and importance.
The trip would take place during the school year and flexibility would be offered to educators and administrators to stagger the trips for students throughout the country so everyone doesn’t just show up in DC on the same week and overwhelm the city and institutions that they are visiting. This trip would be federally funded.
The key to success for this entire program will be for parents, school boards, and administrators to elevate the teaching of civics to be on par with other subjects. Make it just as much a priority as science, math, and English. I think over the last thirty years or so most adults have been trying to tune out and have even written off American government, out of frustration towards the partisan bickering and increasing dysfunction in Washington D.C. This has trickled down into how we educate our youth. To some degree, our national complacency towards prioritizing civics has been a symptom of this reaction. As a country, we’ve allowed our collective frustration and cynicism to work their way into the education system and erode the scope and importance of civics.
It is also critical to tie in the teachings of American history and world history with USNICE (U.S. National Instruction for Civics Engagement) because it’s important to understand that systems of government do not come about in a vacuum. The various systems of governance are born of the times and events shaping a country and its people. They are reactions to upheaval, revolution, tyranny, and the countless bloody wars that have been fought throughout history. Making the connection between past events in human history and our present geopolitical state of affairs is vital for the future of any civilization and can mean life or death for the future of our democracy.
For example, take the genesis of our own government, which took shape during the American Revolution when colonial forces were shaking off the yoke of British rule. The founding fathers wanted self-rule and chaffed at the notion of taxation without representation. We all know the names: Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, Madison, and the rest of the founding fathers who signed onto the Declaration of Independence, and in an instant, became traitors to the British Crown. They went on to win their independence and draft a new Constitutional framework for our fledgling republic. This constitution would be the bedrock of our new nation’s democratic government going forward. But to this day, this most sacred document is widely misunderstood by most Americans. We have to do better as a country to imbue the significance and meaning of the text of the Constitution to younger generations. Right now it is disregarded and looked at as just a piece of history, some old relic of American nostalgia. We have to shake off the dust and put it back on center stage along with the rest of the supporting cast of documents and imperfect institutions that form the framework of our United States government. Get them some new shiny costumes and raise the red curtain again. Just like Lynn Manuel Miranda did so successfully in ‘Hamilton’ with his depiction of historical events, so do we have to make the story of our democracy more compelling and interesting to the youth of America.
As part of that telling, we must also include the things we have come up short on as a nation, where we have failed to live up to the ideals of justice and equality. For large swaths of our history, we have failed to protect, failed to provide equal footing, and failed to make right injustices thrust upon various groups of American citizens. Through reinvigorated teaching of American civics, the constitution, and history it will be important to emphasize and illustrate that our founding fathers provided a framework through which we can attempt to make right the wrongs; mechanisms where we can speak truth to power without the fear of totalitarian retribution. The constitution can be amended. Institutions in need of reform can be made more effective and modern in their administration.
As American citizens, we need to better utilize the tools we have to continually mend the cracks and holes in the ship of democracy if we’re going to keep things afloat. We have to be more regimented in our maintenance efforts. It’s always a lot easier to just stay up above deck sunning ourselves with a rum drink in our hand, watching the clouds and seagulls fly by than to spend the hard time down in the hull working and tending to leaks. But we know it must be done, or the ship will sink. Lately, a lot of Americans have checked out mentally; disheartened and disengaged by all of the political acrimony in society. The relentless partisan bickering has left millions of Americans feeling indifferent at best and willfully ignorant at worst, of the pressing issues facing our democracy. It’s understandable but it’s not sustainable. The ship hasn’t sunk yet but she’s listing on her side.
For there to be a shot at something approaching national reconciliation, it will be key to reconnect the younger generations of Americans to our shared values and history and familiarize them with how our representative government works and why it must survive. A USNICE / reimagined civics agenda will be integral to this. What does it mean to be an American? Hopefully, students will come away with a greater awareness that we are in this together and have to actively protect and preserve our democracy. That there is more to America than just loving hot dogs, football, Times Square, rock n roll, Jordan sneakers, country music, Avenger movies, monster trucks, and Harley Davidsons. All of those things are great and a lot of fun, but being an American citizen is also about some other important things; like valuing equal protection, inclusion, service to country, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free and fair elections, and the expectation of a fair and functioning judicial system.
Without making the effort to understand and protect our legal and legislative frameworks, all of that other fun stuff doesn’t matter and can disappear quickly in national conflagration if we’re not careful. If we do not teach how elections operate and respect our electoral system, voters’ rights, and certified results then the debate over all of the other big issues is meaningless. If those running for political office do not consider the greater good and concede when they lose and conduct themselves graciously when they win, then we are on a dark and destructive path toward totalitarianism. We are a nation distracted by our devices and dangerously divided by political pundits and cultural demagogues. We must refocus our attention on the principles and ideals that unite us. Our education system must make it a priority again, the teaching of our collective responsibility to preserve an American future for all.