civics

Can We Solve the Civics Education Crisis?

by Glenn C. Altschuler and David Wippman

Universal schooling created the potential for a unifying civic curriculum that, paradoxically, has been the subject of perpetual disagreement regarding its contents. A recent bipartisan roadmap for civics education that makes those disagreements central to the subject matter may be the only way to move forward. 

Civics Education is at Rock Bottom. We Can Raise it Back Up

by Danielle Allen

Both disinvestment in the civics curriculum and political fights over what to teach mean that US children learn little about the democratic process at all.  A new project aims to rebuild consensus about the need for civics and lay out guiding principles. 

What's Driving the Latest Texas History Wars?

by John Willingham

An organized and well-funded alliance of charter schools and conservative activists is leveraging the Critical Race Theory controversy in Texas to pursue the real prize: school education funding. 

Our Civics Education Can't Fight These Threats to Democracy

by Eric Mlyn

Educational institutions are already "politicized" by organized attacks by an authoritarian movement. They need to set aside the fear of controversy and assert themselves as defenders of democracy. 

For America, Let's Send the Adults Back to School

by David Chamberlain

The lyceum movement of the 1800s offers a model to reestablish desperately needed civic education and communal interaction across the lines that divide Americans. 

We Are All Americans Here: The Crisis of Civic Empathy and our Besieged Democracy

by Chris J. Magoc

Many Americans are living in a state of grief at the rise of a movement led by an authoritarian sociopath. The answer is to rediscover through action a sense of shared humanity. 

Johns Hopkins Prez: Universities Failing Responsibility to Democracy

by Ronald J. Daniels

Today's universities need to break from a historical cycle of attention and indifference to matters of civic education. 

Conservatives: If You Don't Want Critical Race Theory in Classrooms, Provide the Resources for Civics Education

by by Thomas Kelly, David Bobb, and Jeffrey Sikkenga

Our three organizations launched the American Civics and History Initiative, a collaborative effort that provides thousands of teachers with learning opportunities they may have missed in college or graduate school.

Teaching the 26th Amendment With The New York Times

by Jennifer Frost

A historian of the 26th Amendment offers a lesson plan for using newspapers as primary sources to teach how young Americans succeeded in lowering the voting age to 18. 

Hourlong Wisconsin Legislative Debate over "Critical Race Theory" and Teaching History

"Teachers do not deliberately set out to make students feel bad about themselves. The problem this bill seems to identify, that Wisconsin's teachers intentionally or otherwise want to make students feel bad, is simply not real," said Jeremy Stoddard, a University of Wisconsin-Madison curriculum and instruction professor.

Sen. Hawley: Public Schools Must Make Kids Love America and the Founding

by Josh Hawley

Senator Josh Hawley argues that public schools are obligated to teach "the truth about our history and our purpose that unites us as a nation."

The Moral Panic Over Critical Race Theory Is Coming for a North Carolina Teacher of the Year

Rodney Pierce won honors for going beyond a teach-the-test approach to middle school social studies by pushing his students to understand the history of their local community, including racism. He fears making white parents uncomfortable may jeopardize his job.

Georgia State Education Board to Consider Rules on Race

Georgia is the latest state in which conservatives have staked out social studies curricula as a culture war battle front. 

'The Words That Made Us': Scholar Akhil Reed Amar On How To Better Understand The Constitution

"Scholar Akhil Reed Amar says the one thing every single American shares is the United States Constitution. He shares why he wants Americans to better understand the words that made us."

How The US Can Pass Civics 101

by Glenn C. Altschuler and David Wippman

American education in civics and history is not succeeding. How can it be improved in a polarized climate when content is a political football? 

Infrastructure Isn’t Really About Roads. It’s About the Society We Want.

by Erik Klinenberg

The word "infrastructure" has always been sufficiently capacious to include all kinds of systems necessary for the operation of society. If anything, Biden's plan needs to be bigger, and incorporate the civic infrastructure of elections and public knowledge and the social infrastructure of schools, parks and libraries. 

Is Congress Falling for Scheme to Ruin Civics and History Classes?

Education scholar Mark Bauerlein has criticized the new Civics Secures Democracy Act as a subsidy for politically correct indoctrination in schools, though others disagree with his recent Manhattan Institute findings. 

DeSantis Lashes out at ‘Critical Race Theory’ in Push to Overhaul Florida’s Civics Curriculum

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is the latest official to attack "Critical Race Theory" based on an understanding that the ideas are corrupting civics education by overstating the extent of racism in the US. 

Iowa House Passes Controversial Bill to Ban ‘Divisive Concepts’ from School Training, Curriculum

“This bill is a denial of history,” Rep. Marti Anderson, D-Des Moines, said. “The bill doesn’t want our next generations to receive complete American history education that includes the facts of our darkest hours.” 

Massive Investment in Social Studies and Civics Education Proposed to Address Eroding Trust in Democratic Institutions

The Educating for American Democracy (EAD) initiative will release a 36-page report and an accompanying 39-page road map Tuesday, laying out extensive guidance for improving and reimagining the teaching of social studies, history and civics and then implementing that over the next decade.