In the Age of Trump, Civics Courses Make a Comeback.

[elleng]

MAMARONECK, N.Y. — It’s just after 7 on a Thursday morning and Mamaroneck High School is empty — except for about 30 freshmen who are already seated in their classroom, laptops in front of them.

They are finishing the first year of a new initiative: a four-year program called Original Civic Research and Action, which requires them to immerse themselves in the workings of their town of Mamaroneck — just north of New York City — and find a useful solution to an ongoing problem.

The project — for which students get no school credit in the first year — is the brainchild of Joseph Liberti, a longtime government and history teacher at the high school.

And it is emblematic of a renewed nationwide effort to address, at both the high school and college level, issues that have been laid bare over the last few years — a lack of understanding of and trust in most civic institutions, a disconnection from government at all levels and intolerance for those who think and act differently.

Although he had been pondering such a program for years — modeled on similar ones the school has in drama and science — the election of President Trump gave it a new urgency and “launching it became much easier in 2016,” Mr. Liberti said. “The energy was there and I was able to ride that wave.” . .

He expected 12 students to sign up. He ended up with 32.

Only nine states and the District of Columbia require a full year of civics education, according to the Center for American Progress; 30 states mandate a half-year and 11 states have no mandates. Only one state, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, require community service and civics courses before a student graduates.

The reasons are varied, but many say that the increased focus on science and mathematics, as well as standardized tests, has squeezed out time that once would have been devoted to such courses.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/education/learning/schools-civics-trump.html?

[louis-t]

1. And his last name is "Liberti"!

[elleng]

3. Yes,

Joseph Liberti, a longtime government and history teacher at the high school.

[tazkcmo]

2. Its a start.

Civics classes should be in every grade, every day.

[Butterflylady]

4. That makes me happy, very happy to hear.

I loved civic classes when I was in school so so many years ago. Could never understand why they took them out. Besides that they were very easy and my best grades. Hopefully now the kids coming up will learn the importance of government and how it works when there are people elected that actually care about democracy.

[90-percent]

5. Frank Zappa lamented the loss of high school civics over thirty years ago

“One of the things taken out of the curriculum was civics,” Zappa went on to explain. “Civics was a class that used to be required before you could graduate from high school. You were taught what was in the U.S. Constitution. And after all the student rebellions in the Sixties, civics was banished from the student curriculum and was replaced by something called social studies. Here we live in a country that has a fabulous constitution and all these guarantees, a contract between the citizens and the government – nobody knows what’s in it…And so, if you don’t know what your rights are, how can you stand up for them? And furthermore, if you don’t know what’s in the document, how can you care if someone is shredding it?”

-90% Jimmy

[BigmanPigman]

6. They need to start Civics younger.

like nutrition. Kids need to be trained to begin thinking about govt and food/health to get into good habits. I wrote to my state's education depart several times while and after teaching in elem. school but no changes ever came (yet).