Civics Education: Florida's Example

I consider myself privileged, especially with education. I went to a decent high school in a small town, supported by the community (the triviality of local politics aside). I have a great family that supported me throughout my college search process. And the search was a very successful one; after graduating from high school, I went to Meadville, Pennsylvania to attend Allegheny College, a great liberal arts college. But after having graduated from Allegheny, majoring in political science, I've come to realize that my privileged education would have been solidified with the opportunity to take a high school civics course. And while I benefited from Allegheny's great humanities and social science programs, others, especially minorities, are not as lucky.

Former senator and governor Bob Graham (D-FL) wrote an op-ed in the St. Petersburg Times about the poor state of civics education in the country and what Florida is doing, and should be doing more of, in order to foster further civic knowledge and participation among our youngest citizens.

Graham cites an obsession with political correctness and a "lack of institutional support" for the downward trend of civics education in middle schools and high schools. Schools de-emphasize civics, usually offering, at best, one optional civics course to students. In my own experience, my high school, that for years had an optional civics course and a course titled "Problems of Democracy," eliminated both by the time I reached high school age, renaming the latter "History of Government," and restructuring it to offer a more passive, backwards-looking view at our government. Such moves de-emphasize the participatory nature of our democracy at a time in our history when we should be capitalizing on the Millennial generation's willingness to be politically involved. Graham invokes Jefferson: "The objects of primary education … are to instruct the mass of citizens in these: their rights, interests, and duties as men and citizens … to understand his duties to his neighbors and country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either." We're missing a big opportunity.

So what is Florida doing about it?

The Florida Legislature has taken a first step. Today every middle school student is required to take one semester of civics. This summer a coalition of the Florida Bar, the League of Women Voters, the Lou Frey Institute of Politics at the University of Central Florida and the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida, with the generous support of the Helios Foundation, trained 133 middle school teachers to teach participatory democracy. More will be trained next summer.

Admittedly, our schools are being asked to educate students in everything from hygiene to driving a car. But there are creative ways to blend citizenship into other subjects. While an elementary student is learning the skills of reading, why not also start teaching him or her the content of American history? While high school chemistry students are focused on elements and compounds, wouldn't the course be more relevant if they also learned how science and civics have combined to make our air and water cleaner and safer?

Graham also argues that for all the controversy over the current standardized testing environment, the usual exclusion of civics from tests that always include reading, math, and science is a problem. With civics not emphasized on standardized tests, it usually does not appear on lesson plans in the classroom. Graham proposes civics be included in Florida's major statewide exam, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

I wrote about this mainly because of Mike's call to arms published a few days ago. We absolutely need to be capitalizing on the heightened electoral participation this cycle by exploring innovative ways of educating today's students in civics in addition to math and science. I particularly like Florida's emphasis on middle school education; getting to students as young as possible sets the stage for a higher discourse in our high school education, and so forth.

This post is meant to contribute to a conversation that should be intensifying in the upcoming weeks as we come across a defining election in our nation's history. It's my hope that this intensity lasts well past this November, and that we step up our passion on this subject so that future students have an opportunity that I, and many others, did not have.