Go big on civics education

Beyond the American Civics Act

Boston, Massachusetts

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In 2015, Arizona became the first state in the nation to require that its public school students pass a civics test to graduate from high school.

It was smart politics. Republicans got to flex their patriotism by highlighting the fact that students should learn civics. Even though civics coursework was already included in the state standards, it wasn’t enough. Why shouldn’t students pass a test to show their knowledge? Do you not care about civics or something?

They called it the American Civics Act.

The law says the test needs to be a word-for-word duplicate of the naturalization test that people need to take when they apply to become American citizens. The naturalization test booklet includes 100 multiple-choice questions covering basic facts about history, government, and geography. New citizens are asked ten random questions from the list, while Arizona public school students need to answer 70 correctly out of 100.

By 2024, twelve additional states had passed laws requiring the naturalization test for high school graduation. More states might follow.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican who is running for governor in Ohio, is on the stump promising that his state will follow suit in order to “revive civics education in our young people”:

And every high school senior who graduates from an Ohio high school on my watch will have to pass the same civics test that every legal immigrant has to pass in order to become a naturalized citizen of this country. You gotta know something about the country in order to respect the country and to love the country.

In my view, the law doesn’t do much to boost civics education.

The test is superficial and sporadic. It’s a hodgepodge of information that most students see by the fifth grade. What’s the longest river in the United States? Who was the first president? What is an amendment? What are the names of the three branches of government? The test was designed to be a simple gesture to ask of naturalized citizens, not a capstone K-12 civics assessment for public school students.

The argument that we need a law requiring students to demonstrate this basic knowledge strikes me as a tad ridiculous. Yes, students should know this stuff. But this would be like requiring, as a condition of high school graduation, that students pass a test of basic arithmetic. For the vast majority of students, the test would be so easy that it would be a waste of time.

For the handful of students who might struggle to pass the naturalization test, they aren’t going to learn civics because of this law — they are going to memorize a certain number of answers and then forget them after the test.

The rhetoric in support of the law is shallow, especially coming from a MAGA politician like Vivek Ramaswamy, who stood on a debate stage last summer and claimed that the 2020 election was stolen by Big Tech.

If we want a revival of civics education, we need to think big.

Here are five concepts of a plan:

1. State-specific civics tests

Conservatives used to talk about federalism, which is the idea that each state has its own constitutionally protected set of powers. Education is one of those powers.

So why would states require a boring civics test designed by the federal government?

Arizona should design its own civics test. Empower a local group of historians, teachers, and civic leaders to oversee the process. Make the creation of the test a statewide civics project.

Include Arizona history in the test, along with substantive questions about the principles behind our republican form of government.

Questions like these:

• Define the term separation of powers, explain the reasoning behind it, and describe an example of what it looks like in practice.

• Explain the significance of the following quotation: “In America, the law is king.”

If we are going to require our students to pass a capstone civics test, let’s put in the effort to make it a good test.

2. Shine a light on the Bill of Rights

Republicans have proposed laws to require the Ten Commandments be placed in public school classrooms.

Why not the Bill of Rights?

Let’s teach and display the Bill of Rights in classrooms across the land.

Free speech. Free press. Freedom of assembly. Freedom of religion. Right to bear arms. Due process for the accused. Right to a speedy trial. Right to a jury trial. Right to a lawyer. No unwarranted searches or seizures. No cruel and unusual punishment.

Why not a “Bill of Rights Month” with speeches and essay contests and public forums?

Why not feature the Bill of Rights prominently in the civics test we require of our students?

Do you not care about the Bill of Rights or something?

3. Curriculum development

If we want to teach civics more effectively, we can’t just require a superficial multiple-choice test and expect that anything will change in the classroom. We need to talk about curriculum.

School reform advocate Robert Pondiscio makes a good point when he says that teachers would be more effective if they were given a coherent curriculum. That is, a pre-packaged sequence of unit plans, reading materials, lesson plans, and assessments.

To which I say, show me the curriculum.

I’m seriously asking. If you know of any good history or civics curriculum, send me an email or leave a comment on this post.

iCivics.org is a great resource for lesson plans. I’m a fan of the Land of Hope as a well-written narrative textbook of U.S. history. The Digital Inquiry Group has some good primary source-based lessons that encourage students to develop evidence-based interpretations of historical events.

But I’m not aware of a good, fully-loaded package of history or government curriculum that doesn’t require teachers to do significant legwork crafting their own stuff.

The question of curriculum will naturally lead to a debate about what topics or themes to emphasize, and how to teach the ugly parts of our history. The act of crafting a curriculum is also an act of historical interpretation.

One legislative idea would be to open up the possibilities for the kinds of curriculum that can earn college credit. This idea addresses the problem of lackluster curriculum while helping to lower the temperature of culture-war fighting.

The dominant credit-qualifying tests right now are the “Advanced Placement” or AP exams administered by the College Board. Honors students in Arizona and across the country are taking AP classes in history and government. If students pass the AP test, they can get college credit. The test pretty much dictates the curriculum for these classes.

The Goldwater Institute published a report criticizing the College Board for a) having a monopoly over credit-qualifying exams in schools, and b) having a left-wing bias in their exams. Arizona is among the states that subsidize and promote AP exams. The report argues in favor of eliminating this favoritism.

If states were to allow a variety of college credit-qualifying exams, then publishers and education groups would enter the curriculum development space to compete with the College Board. Ideally, schools would then have a variety of solid curriculum and exam packages to choose from.

4. Learning by experience

Massachusetts passed a civics education law in 2018, but they didn’t require the naturalization test. Instead, they established new civics standards, required a student-led civics project, and provided training to encourage schools to conduct voter registration drives.

This law highlights an important concept: civics education involves both academic knowledge and real-world participation.

Arizona promotes something similar with the Seal of Civics Literacy. In this program, students can earn a seal on their diploma by participating in a variety of civics-related activities outside of normal coursework.

Different states have different starting points, but if politicians are looking to flex their patriotism, these initiatives can always be enhanced through legislation or publicity.

5. Student journalism

They say the press is the fourth branch of government. If this is true, then we need to bolster this institution, because the digital revolution has scrambled our collective brains. It has never been more important to teach journalism.

Our message to young people should be: Turn off the mindless algorithms and read an article about your community. Student journalism can be a way for young people to practice the intellectual habits necessary for informed citizenship.

At the very least, our political leaders could sit for interviews with student writers to promote the importance of journalism.

Another idea would be to host a “Student Journalist Day” at the State Capitol for a gathering of student news programs. Invite local news outlets to participate in this day to celebrate the craft.

Maybe one day in Arizona, student journalists will gather in front of the Don Bolles memorial.

That’s when we’ll know there’s been a civic revival.

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