ACTA in the NewsCivic Education
The Renaissance of Civic Education
Over the last 60 years, there has been unconscionable neglect of civics and American history at both the K-12 and university levels.
In his April 22 op-ed, “We’re not teaching the A-B-C’s of civics. That’s a problem,” Colbert I. King correctly pointed to civic illiteracy as a great and growing danger to American democracy. Rather than wringing their hands, concerned members of the public should begin to hold our system of higher education accountable for its mounting contributions to the history deficit.
Surveys by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which advocates history and civics requirements, reveal that only 18 percent of four-year liberal arts institutions require undergraduates to take a single course in American history or government. In December, George Washington University’s history department announced that requirements even for history majors would no longer include a course on U.S. history. With U.S. history and government requirements disappearing from curriculums, students’ lack of respect for First Amendment freedoms is predictable. There are remedies: Several states — Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas and Nevada — mandate the study of the Constitution as a condition for graduation from public universities. Policymakers and higher- education trustees must recognize their duty to ensure that their graduates are ready for engaged, informed citizenship in a free society.
Over the last 60 years, there has been unconscionable neglect of civics and American history at both the K-12 and university levels.
Desperation and disillusionment with the political system run rampant among young Americans. Growing up in a nation characterized by political polarization and economic strife, Gen Z has been fed a hopeless narrative: problems are too big, and our votes are ineffective.
I am deeply grateful to the Law & Liberty editors for organizing this Forum on my essay urging the restoration of genuinely higher learning in America’s universities, especially liberal education as a civic education. I am indebted to each respondent for seriously engaging with my analysis of the multi-faceted crisis facing higher education, and my remedies for private as well as public institutions.
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