The Civic Education Imperative
The Urgency of Making Civic Education Great Again
Civic Way continues its public education series, tackling themes that affect every state’s public education system. This essay is about civic education. In future essays, we will discuss teachers, school choice and accountability. The author, Bob Melville, is the founder of Civic Way, a nonprofit dedicated to good government, and a management consultant with over 45 years of experience improving public agencies.
Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government. – Thomas Jefferson
Introduction
The US has a tradition of using public schools as the primary incubators of democratic socialization. Since the 19thcentury, our public schools have been expected to teach children about government, democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. A long line of leaders from all political persuasions has recognized and affirmed the vital civic education role of public schools.
Sadly, our national commitment to civic education is flagging. Declining civic knowledge. Less classroom hours for high school civics. Cancel culture on the right and left. Increasingly bitter polarization. A stubborn unwillingness to treat opponents with respect. The scarcity of civil dialogue, even on college campuses. A crumbling wall of civic knowledge protecting democracy from totalitarianism.
Defining Civic Education
At the Ronald Reagan Institute’s 2022 education summit, US Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Amy Coney Barrett agreed that civic education is vital and must encompass more than teaching government. They suggested that civic education also should cover such topics as citizenship, media literacy and moral character. More about each of these elements below.
Citizenship has many demands. A solid grasp of the rights and obligations of citizenship, such as voting and civic service. A familiarity with the federal constitution and the workings of federal, state and local government. A deep gratitude for democracy and the institutions and cultural norms upon which it depends. An in-depth knowledge of US history—its facts and myths.
Media literacy is another key component of civic education. The National Association for Media Literacy Education has defined it as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create and act using all forms of communication.” As we increase our use of social media, we must learn to maintain a healthy skepticism, verify and critically assess internet content, demand evidence, and distinguish facts from fiction.
Moral character, the third pillar of civic education, may be the most neglected. Moral character comprises many virtues including humility, curiosity, integrity, fairness, kindness and forgiveness. While most children learn such virtues from their families, public schools can play an important role in reenforcing secular values. And without those values the critical thinking we need for self-governance may be elusive.
In a 1979 case concerning a noncitizen’s right to permanent certification as a public school teacher, the US Supreme Court underscored the importance of moral education. The court wrote that public school teachers “promote civic virtues” like “tolerance of divergent political and religious views.” By doing so, the court added, public schools can help unify “diverse and conflicting” peoples[i].
The Fall of Civic Knowledge
We live in one of the world’s most enduring democracies, but we Americans are shockingly ignorant about our democracy, from the basics of our constitution to our obligations as citizens.
Only 36 percent of Americans can pass a multiple choice test based on the US citizenship test[ii].
Only 47 percent of Americans can name all three branches of government (25 percent cannot name any)[iii].
The percent of eighth-grade students performing at or above what the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) considers proficient on the NAEP US civics test fell from 24 in 2018 to 22 in 2022[iv].
The percent of eighth-grade students performing at or above what the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) considers proficient on the NAEP US history test fell from 15 in 2018 to 13 in 2022[v].
Civic ignorance poses many threats to our nation. One is the erosion of public trust in our public institutions. Only about 16 percent of Americans trust the federal government to do what is right always or most of the time (down from 20 percent in 2022 and one of the lowest ratios in seven decades)[vi]. Related threats include polarization and alienation[vii]. Another is a growing susceptibility to conspiracy theories, misinformation, demagoguery, and violence[viii]. Such threats can be fatal to a democracy.
The Decline of Civic Education
Since the 1990s—and certainly since the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act—our nation has emphasized the teaching and testing of career preparation skills like reading, math and science. Since these skills are critical to our economic success, this strategy makes sense. However, an excessive STEM focus may have distracted politicians and educators from making the requisite investments in civic education.
Each year, the federal government spends only five cents per student on civic education compared to about $50 per student on STEM education[ix].
At the high school level, only seven states require a full year of civics instruction and 13 states lack civics course requirements[x].
Nearly 50 percent of 8th graders take a class with civics content, but only 29 percent have teachers whose primary responsibility is teaching civics or government[xi].
Only 18 states have enacted legislation regarding media literacy education[xii].
While many public schools employ cellphone and social media bans, most offer limited media education.
Public schools tend to commit limited resources to teaching of secular values.
There are many causal factors for the current state of civic education. Underfunded, outdated and incomplete standards. Dwindling course requirements. Too few civic education teachers. Inadequate professional development opportunities and instructional materials. Regardless of the causes, our waning commitment to civic education will leave our youth woefully unprepared for the trials and tribulations of civic life.
Recent Trends
In recent years, perhaps driven by the rising toxicity of our politics, many of our political, civic and business leaders have started turning their attention to improving civic education. This growing support for a more serious investment in civic education has been bipartisan.
In the past two years, 16 states passed legislation advancing civic education. In 2022, Congress considered, but failed to enact, the bipartisan Civic Secures Democracy Act which would have provided $1 billion annually for civics education[xiii]. However, Congress’ omnibus spending bill included language from the failed bill and $23 million in funding for K-12 civic education.
In 2023, Congress introduced bipartisan legislation—the Promoting Programming, Research, Education and Preservation (PREP) in Civics and Government Act—to advance civic education. The goal was to expand access to civic education by requiring the National Endowment for the Humanities' (NEH) to support civic education research, professional development and online textbooks.
The nonprofit sector offers great promise. ICivics, founded by former US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, has become a national leader in building bipartisan support for civic education[xiv]. CivXNow, the bipartisan 280-member coalition led by ICivics, has developed a state-based menu of potential strategies for improving K-12 civic education.
These small steps are commendable, but resolving America’s civic ignorance crisis will require more.
Strategies for Improving Civic Education
We need a national public-private civic education initiative. We should begin by creating a national multi-partisan commission to clarify our nation’s civic education goals around the three pillars noted above—good citizenship, media literacy and moral character. The commission should then recommend funding strategies, model state civic education laws and curriculum standards and reliable research and best practices for states[xv].
In turn, states should establish their own multi-partisan commissions to debate and adopt nondogmatic, balanced strategies for strengthening civic education, such as the following:
Laws – Enact state legislation to define, expand and advance civic education.
Policies – Strengthen broad civic education goals and curriculum standards for every grade level for K-12 public schools and any private schools receiving public funds.
Citizenship – Establish instructional guidelines and minimum course hour requirements for every grade (e.g., history, government, democracy, debate, civic engagement and voting).
Media literacy – Establish instructional guidelines, minimum course hour requirements and cross-cutting skill demands (e.g., discerning source credibility and distinguishing fact from fiction).
Moral education – Establish cross-cutting curricula content (e.g., critical thinking lessons) and instructional tools (e.g., value-based stories).
Teacher training – Strengthen professional development and pre-service requirements for civics teachers (e.g., specify undergraduate courses in government, history and media literacy).
Instructional materials – Increase funding for more robust course materials and online tools.
Community service – Work with local governments and civic groups to increase opportunities for student engagement with local elections (e.g., poll work), commissions and projects.
States also must hold school districts accountable for expanding civic education. Potential measures include clear student credentialing benchmarks at key grade levels, mandatory participation in National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) proficiency testing for civics and US history, and comparative district assessments. Every public school district also should have clear civics-related graduation requirements (e.g., minimal community service hours and a civic exam similar to the federal citizenship exam).
Closing Remarks
Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Supreme Court justice, was a fervent advocate of civic education. She saw civic education as indispensable to our nation’s future. A vital tool for fostering tolerance, promoting civil discourse, reducing polarization and building a more cohesive American identity.
Investing in civic education also broad benefits for the entire country. STEM instruction is important for our nation’s global competitiveness, but most students don’t pursue STEM-related careers. Civic education, on the other hand, benefits all citizens and the communities in which they live. In the long run, preparing our youth for citizenship should improve voting turnout[xvi], civic engagement and volunteering. It also should better prepare voters for anticipated threats (e.g., misinformation).
Will our public schools return to their vital mission of civic education? Our democracy may very well depend on it.