A recent NEWSMAX magazine article “Civic Education Key to Future” caught my eye as it wasn’t the first such article I have seen in the past few years. This article had a few pointed comments, to include “…less than half of U.S. adults could name the three branches of government.” Much of the article appeared to be a tribute to the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the first anniversary of her passing. O’Connor was very concerned about the poor quality of civics education and remained active in the field until her passing.

The article continued “We need a renewed focus on civics in our schools, from elementary education through high school.” And “Civic education must go beyond textbooks.” It concluded with “It’s in our classrooms – not just our Congress – where America’s future is truly forged.”

In September EPOCH Times had a feature article “America Failing Civics” with the sub-headline “Many see need for more classes about government”. That article started with the report of a college class in government where, year after year, only about one-third of the class could pass the basic citizenship test! The good news gleaned from the article is that colleges and universities are beginning to require a course in government or civics for their college graduation.

In January, 2022, U.S. News and World Report had an article “Teaching Civics After Jan.6”with a sub-headline “With new guidance, hopes for a resurgence in teaching students how democracy works”. It had some good ideas and things to think about even if there seems to be a difference of opinion on what actually happened January 6th, 2021. Further sub-headlines were “Increased Interest in Civics”, “New Recommendations for Teaching Civics”, “Educators Are Optimistic”, and “Teaching Civics at Home”.

These, and many other, articles can be summarized by saying we need to change “Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic” to “Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Civics”!

This is not a new observation. About three years ago there was a report on history and civics in U.S. schools. It would be shameful enough to note that Wisconsin was one of twenty states found inadequate, but even worse to realize Wisconsin was one of nine states that received a failing evaluation.

How handy! It is election season in Wisconsin and most – or all – local school districts have elections for some of their Board of Education. Even better, Wisconsin will be electing the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. What can “We the People” do? It is time to study the issue and then ask the candidates the tough questions about civics education and probably other critical topics concerning public education. Obviously, change is needed and while a gentle nudge from the top (Madison) would be beneficial, a push from patriotic parents would be awesome!

One effort would be to remove CRT, DEI, and other woke topics from the classroom. CRT is Critical Race Theory. DEI is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; or Divisive, Extreme, and Intolerant; or Division, Exclusion, and Indoctrination. The terms all fit and none of them are beneficial to American education, or anywhere else in American society. American industry and higher education are separating themselves from DEI and American primary and secondary education should do the same!

Closely related and also of grave concern is the teaching based on the New York Times “1619 Project” which believes the history of the United States should date from 1619 – the year that slaves were first brought to the North American continent.

There are alternatives to the CRT, DEI, and “1619 Project” problems. The Heritage Foundation and Hillsdale College both have produced excellent Civics and U.S. History programs suitable for the classroom. Replace the “1619 Project” with “The 1776 Project” which was written by the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission and published in mid- January 2021.

Another consideration is that DEI is being replaced in business and industry by MEI – Merit, Excellence, and Intelligence. MEI has been endorsed by Elon Musk; but the name more closely related to the development of MEI is Alexander Wang – the world’s youngest self-made billionaire at age 25. This is something to think about for curriculum content and the management side of education too.

Civil behavior has been linked to a lack of civic education. Civic education is an aptitude while civil behavior is an attitude! Nevertheless, civic education is critical to the future.

Again, time to challenge all the “education” candidates in the spring elections from local school boards to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Get informed and get involved. There are changes needed! It is your civic right and responsibility to participate!