In the News

In the News: The Need for Civic Education

The recent challenging election season has many people thinking about the need for civic education. Ensuring that our citizens – especially those who are learning their way in our nation – have the tools be both active and informed citizens is more critical than ever. Here’s a sampling of what the journalists, pundits, and educators have to say.


Starting with an editorial by our own Barbara Rost:

Civics Education Is Vital to A Democracy

A well-informed, active citizenry is what makes us strong. It is what sets us apart on the world stage. In election years, it makes for a smooth transition from one administration to the next.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/local/stayton/opinion/2016/10/30/civics-education-vital-democracy/92728990/


Education Secretary John King Calls for More Civic Education

What’s also needed are citizens who will work with others and vote strategically to demand changes…

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-10-19/education-secretary-john-king-calls-for-more-civic-education


Is Trump’s Victory the Jump-Start Civics Education Needed?

Public schools are failing at what the nation’s founders saw as education’s most basic purpose: preparing young people to be reflective citizens who would value liberty and democracy…

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/11/is-trumps-victory-the-jump-start-civics-education-needed/507293/


We talk a lot about civic education. Here’s how to get kids really engaged in it.

We talk a lot about civic education, usually about how little of it too many students get in school. … here’s a different kind of discussion: how kids are actually being engaged in it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/11/05/we-talk-a-lot-about-civic-education-heres-how-to-get-kids-really-engaged-in-it/


Knowledge of how government works is declining, prompting talk of civics education, voter tests

[V]ery contentious elections … tend to polarize people further and confuse some on how much power a president actually has.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2016/nov/07/knowledge-of-how-government-works-is-declining-pro/


Restore civics lessons to America’s classrooms: Erik M. Jensen (Opinion)

We need to get cracking, because the longer we ignore basic civics education, the more difficult it will be to revive the subject.

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/11/restore_civics_lessons_to_amer.html


Souter, Gregg Call For Renewed Focus on Civics Education

The pair offered plenty of explanations for the current state of political discourse – which, in their view, is too often driven by polarized talking points instead of thoughtful discussions on issues of substance. At the root of those issues, they argued, is a decades-long erosion of the way students learn about the political process.

http://nhpr.org/post/souter-gregg-call-renewed-focus-civics-education