Civics Teachers Feel Left Behind

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

MORE TEACHERS PUSH FOR CIVICS EDUCATION
Associated Press -- March 26, 2007
by Lucas L. Johnson II

Iain Macpherson cares so deeply about teaching civics that the 
61-year-old Scottish immigrant turned himself into a show-and-tell project.

He arranged for a federal judge to perform his own citizenship ceremony 
in front of his fifth-graders, hoping to show what it means to be an 
American citizen. "I wanted them to know what the experience is like," 
Macpherson said.

Macpherson and other social studies teachers say they have to shoehorn 
civics lessons into their regular classes because Tennessee and most 
other states don't require civics to be taught separately.

Since the federal No Child Left Behind law was passed in 2002, schools 
have focused on reading and math, and that has squeezed out other 
subjects like arts, music and civics, educators say. So lawmakers in 
Tennessee and other states have proposed bills this year to save civics.

A bill from state Sen. Rosalind Kurita would require the Tennessee 
Department of Education to create a separate civics course in at least 
one grade between fifth and eighth grade.

"We have responsibilities to our community and to other people to be 
good citizens," said Kurita, a Democrat. "And I think that civic classes 
are a way to teach how comprehensive this responsibility really is."

Kurita said teaching students about voting and citizenship rights is 
just as important as math and English. Ted McConnell, director of the 
Campaign to Promote Civic Education — an initiative of the Center for 
Civic Education — agrees.

"Study after study shows that when our youth are exposed to effective 
civic education courses, they're not only more likely to vote, but 
they're more likely to get involved in their communities and work toward 
solutions to societal problems," he said.

Attention to civics in the classroom had been declining over the past 20 
years, McConnell said, but the "decline was dramatically accelerated 
after the implementation of No Child Left Behind."

He cited a study done last year by the Washington-based Center for 
Education Policy that showed 71 percent of school districts surveyed 
said they have had to reduce instructional time in at least one other 
subject to make room for increased attention to math and reading because 
of the federal law.

"We find that the first target of those cuts is usually social studies, 
which often includes civic learning," McConnell said.

The Center for Civic Education said several other state legislatures are 
considering civics bills: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, 
Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

The West Virginia House of Delegates passed a resolution earlier this 
month to encourage the creation of a council that would make 
recommendations on improving civics education.

The Tennessee bill has stalled in committee so a study commission could 
make suggestions, but Kurita remains optimistic about its chances.

"To inform students about government, how the legal community and how 
society works, is critical to education," said state Sen. Jamie Woodson, 
a Republican and chair of the Senate Education Committee. "It's as 
important as math and science."

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On the Net:

Center for Civic Education: http://www.civiced.org/