10 Ways To Fix Civics Class And Strengthen A Nation

Civic ignorance has become such a national joke that Youtube is filled with videos showing people botching questions as simple as “who is the Vice-President of the United States?” However, little conversation has gone into how to fix civic classes so students are more engaged and learn vital civic knowledge and skills -- along with a real desire to civically participate. Here is a top 10 list for creating an exciting and powerful civics class.

1. Start With a Burning Issue

Don’t lecture students about government. Let students bring their passions and opinions into civics class. Simply by asking students -- “what do you care about?” --can change the whole atmosphere of learning about government and get students to find a personal connection to government.

2. Take a Public Stand

The assumption that high school students all learn how to speak publicly is wrong. More than half of our students in Chicago report not having to give a public presentation. Being an effective public speaker is hard and requires lots of opportunities for practice. If we don’t allow students the opportunities to do this in high school, where will they learn that skill?

3. Work As a Team On An Issue

Citizenship is not a private act! It’s something we have to do with other citizens. If students practice working together and collaborating, they learn an essential civic (and workplace skill) of collaboration. Real collaboration requires an authentic task and demands that all the members of a group share their ideas and talents.

4. Understand how Power Works

Power is not a dirty word. If our students don’t learn how power is distributed and leveraged, how can they be effective in improving their lives and their communities? Understanding power means understanding government structures, powers of individual citizens and interest groups.

5. Conduct Research and Make Research Fun

In this age of technology, students can conduct their own research quite easily and crunch data from their own interviews, surveys and polls faster than ever. Research is more than Googling a topic. Students can build their own data and analyze it. And then when looking at others research online, they will know better when a source is reliable and detect bias?

6. Turn Complaints Into Solutions

Looking at the issues facing our society can be paralyzing and discourage participation. Increasingly polarized public debate discourages students from wanting to be solution makers. And we NEED solution makers. When youth are equipped with the skills to deconstruct and argument, to analyze a complex problem and to identify root causes, they are empowered to problem solve and take action. Make solution making the heart of your civics class.

7. Register to Vote

It is the most basic form of civic engagement so civics classes should assist in registering young voters. Support pre-registration laws in your state so students can register to vote in advance of their eligibility date.

8. Campaign For a Candidate

If you talk to politicians about why they went into politics, many will tell you that they caught the “bug” working on political campaigns. So if we want to increase the amount of good people running for office and helping run campaigns, it is simple math. We must expose more young people to the nuts and bolts process of running for office. What they often learn is that politics is more fun to do than to watch.

9. Engage in the Media

While young people are heavily engaged in all forms of media, they often lack the guided instruction to understand the impact and implication of media consumption and production. In addition to understanding the powers of the media in a democracy, youth should develop the skills to be critical media consumers and producers of their own media.

10. Take Action

Whether it be circulating a petition to their peers, organizing a large scale event around an issue or lobbying elected officials there is no better way to learn how to participate in democracy than to participate in democracy. As we say at Mikva Challenge, “democracy is a verb.” In order to insure a healthy democracy, it is imperative that schools create Action Civics classes that engage young people in the real activities of citizenship.