Mondays with Mike: Bring back civics! (And I don’t mean Hondas.)

A couple updates on last week’s post:

First, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign graduate students (members of the Graduate Employees Organization) stayed on strike long enough to end up getting what looks to be a fair deal for themselves. Hats off to them and their supporters, which included their undergraduate students and their counterparts up here at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Last week’s post also referenced those Parkland, Florida kids from Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School. They’re punching way beyond their age in pressuring lawmakers to do something about access to guns. Here’s just one impressive example:

Parkland high schoolers like Delaney Tarr, the speaker in the video, have been so polished that people have suggested that they are “crisis actors” hired by political operatives.

But this article at The Washington Monthly suggests another factor: Why are Parkland Students So Articulate? Because They Were Taught Civics in Middle School.

For those of us of a certain age, taking civics class was a staple of public education. Somehow, civics classes and requirements faded over the years. I don’t know if it was the product of the countless flavor-of-the-day education movements, or that the idea was that civics would be blended into other classes.

Whatever, tests have proven that people’s basic civic knowledge has waned, and in Florida, about a decade ago, a couple of legislators from both sides of the aisle took note. From the article:

The roots of this effort go back to 2007, when former Senator Bob Graham (D) and former Congressman Lou Frey (R) realized that adults in the state of Florida scored at or near the bottom of surveys that measure civic health and engagement. The two joined forces and formed the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship to get civics education legislation passed. After a few failed attempts, in 2010 the Florida legislature finally approved, and then-Governor Charlie Christ signed, the Sandra Day O’Connor Civic Education Act, named for the former Supreme Court justice who has had made civic learning and engagement her post-SCOTUS life’s work.

The law became practice starting in 2011. By all accounts, it resembles what I remember from civics:

It mandates a civics course in 7th grade and the incorporation of civic education content into the K-12 reading language arts curriculum. Second, while most states require that students be tested only in reading and math, the O’Connor Act mandates a comprehensive civics test at the end of 7th grade. That sends a message to teachers, administrators, and parents that civics is a core subject that needs to be taken seriously.

One thing that sounds better about the modern day civics class—it’s less lecture, more discussion of issues in context, and more participation in school governance. On that note, please do read the Washington Monthly piece—it includes a nifty online civics quiz (I dare you to take it) and some nifty little online exercises.

Efforts to bring back or augment civics programs have been implemented or are being considered in other states, including here in Illinois.

It’s not a quaint idea—it’s a pretty big deal. The founders of the United States envisioned a vast public education system with, in large part, the mission of equipping citizens to participate in our democracy. And it can only make discourse more constructive and civil.

So, I’ll say something I never thought I’d say: Here’s to Florida.