Civics Education: something (we think) we can all agree on in Central Bucks.

Our ears perked up to hear our school board speak last month about revising our social studies curriculum with an eye to increasing Civics education. 

Great idea! 

If there is one thing we think we can all agree on, it is the importance of preparing our kids to be informed and engaged participants in our 21st-century democracy.

What is Civics, you might ask? 

This from CivXNow:

In its broadest sense, civics (also known as “civic education” or “civic learning”) is the lifelong process that makes people into active, responsible, and knowledgeable members of their communities—which range from their schools and towns or neighborhoods to the whole nation and even the world. Civic learning occurs in families, in religious congregations and other associations, in political campaigns, and on news websites, among many other venues.

And from Brookings:

The term civic learning evokes for most Americans their high school civics class in which they learned about the U.S. Constitution, the three branches of government, and how a bill becomes a law. This knowledge and information is essential—after all how can young people be expected to actively participate in democracy if they are unaware of the basic rules of the game?—but it is by no means sufficient. There is an emerging consensus across the many scholars and organizations that work on civic learning that imparting knowledge must be paired with developing civic attitudes and behaviors.

For example, CivXNow, a bipartisan coalition of over one hundred actors including academic and research institutions, learning providers, and philanthropic organizations, argues that civic education must include a focus on:

1.   Civic knowledge and skills: where youth gain an understanding of the processes of government, prevalent political ideologies, civic and constitutional rights, and the history and heritage of the above.

2.   Civic values and dispositions: where youth gain an appreciation for civil discourse, free speech, and engaging with those whose perspectives differ from their own.

3.   Civic behaviors: where students develop the civic agency and confidence to vote, volunteer, attend public meetings, and engage with their communities.

There is also emerging evidence suggesting a correlation between high quality civic learning programs and increased civic engagement from students.

As the 2011 Guardian of Democracy: The Civic Mission of Schools report highlights, students who receive high quality civic education are more likely to “understand public issues, view political engagement as a means of addressing communal challenges, and participate in civic activities.” The outcomes are equally as influential on civic equality, as there is evidence to suggest that poor, minority, rural, and urban students who receive high-quality civics education perform better than their counterparts.

These groups recommend six pathways, or as they call them, proven practices, to good civics education: 

1.     Classroom instruction (we would add Media Literacy education)

2.     Discussion of Current Events and Controversial Issues

3.     Service Learning

4.     Extracurricular Activities

5.     Student participation in School Governance (A CB South Senior proposed student representation on the school board back in May 2022… we are still waiting.)

6.     Simulations of Democratic Processes

According to Frank Luntz, Republican pollster, teachers are the most trusted source for civics education:

We applaud the effort to increase civic participation for our kids and to increase the amount of civics education in our social studies curriculum.

A note of caution

While we are encouraged and hopeful that our CB teachers will guide this work, we also know their work comes during a time of great controversy over civics education in neighboring Pennridge school district.

Last month, Vermillion Education—a controversial months-old business (first championed by Moms for Liberty founder and school board director, Bridget Ziegler in Sarasota, Fla.) with no experience in public education was hired as an educational consultant to write their K-12 social studies curriculum, literally nullifying qualified Pennridge educators who were already hired to do the work.

While we do not know if CB will seek to hire Vermillion (we sure hope not), with our board school board speaking about revising our social studies curriculum with an eye to increasing civic education, we would be remiss if we did not share what’s happening nearby as Pennridge & CB share similar policy trends.

As we know, right now our professional high quality CB educators will guide the work as they are best positioned to support our children’s learning. Let’s keep it this way. We do not support Vermilion or any other inexperienced, non-academic organization replacing the great work of our CB teachers.

On this effort, as long as we allow CB teachers to lead the way, we believe our board is on the right track.