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Restoring the Civic Mission of Schools
By Senator Richard T. Moore September 16, 2008 ... This week marks the two hundred twenty-first anniversary of the signing of America's Constitution, and students across the nation will spend a few minutes hearing about the ideals that led to the birth of our nation. In this new school year however, too many schools will not teach students the knowledge and attitudes necessary for active citizenship. Civic learning has been in decline over the past generation, and the last decade has witnessed an especially steep decline as high-stakes testing forces schools to devote more time to literacy and math at the expense of civics. While a generation ago, schools often required three civics courses as a graduation requirement, today most American high schools only feature one civics course, often an optional course in the senior year that does not emphasize the importance of citizen action. The results of the decline of civic learning are staggering. On a 2006 assessment of student knowledge of civics, two-thirds of students scored below proficient. With less than a fifth of high school seniors able to explain how citizen participation benefits democracy, most young people lack the tools to shape their communities through citizen participation. Just as worrisome is that low-income and minority students scored even lower on these assessments. Even as we are beginning to close the achievement gap in reading and math, a civic achievement gap is widening. How can our democracy reflect the true voice of "We the People" if only some students are given the knowledge and motivation to speak out? Since the American public education system touches the daily lives of more citizens than any other national institution, it needs to prepare every young person for a life of engaged and informed citizenship. If education doesn't prepare students to think critically about what they hear from politicians and the media, how can we expect them to answer the challenges - at home and abroad - that will face American in the decades to come. Here in Massachusetts, we are working to restore the civic mission of
schools through the work of a Special Commission on Civic Engagement and
Learning established by the Legislature in Section 106 of Chapter 182 of
2008. The Commission is expected to report on the status of civic engagement and learning in Massachusetts from kindergarten through
undergraduate college education, including an assessment of the civic knowledge of graduates of the public schools, the opportunities
available to students for service learning that develops an understanding of the relationship between service learning and the work
of government in a democracy, a review of public and private programs that teach civic engagement and of the knowledge and skills that are It is hoped that the work of the Commission will build public awareness that, as a Commonwealth, we still need to make more progress to ensure that our schools are educating the next generation of active citizens. After all, this was a major part of Horace Mann's vision in promoting free public education that placed Massachusetts in the forefront of educational movements in American and, indeed, the world. Restoring this civic mission of schools will require a joint effort by
schools, school districts, and our state legislature. As government considers school funding, professional development, institutional Only if we all show a commitment to improving the quality and quantity of civic learning, we can fulfill the promise of our state and federal constitutions. If our schools can return to their historic mission of creating informed and active citizens, we can look forward to a thriving democracy for generations to come. |
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