Colleen Shogan and John Bridgeland are in The Hill arguing for a K-16 civics education "moonshot," and I'm pretty sure we need that like we need more comfortable seats on a sinking ship-- it's not a terrible idea, but it doesn't address the real problem.
Peter, thank you for your analysis here! As a former government teacher, I KNOW the students at my high school have received a full year of government and civics for the past 7-8 years. Admittedly, most students in Illinois have a semester as a graduation requirement, but they also have the basics of civics throughout their social studies K-8 curriculum. I feel the problem lies more in what they see demonstrated every day than the information provided to them in classes. Government in the last 30+ years has not lived up to values it is supposed to be based on as the politicians (including the courts) show they care more about what they can personally gain from their time in public service than what benefits the country as a whole. And in the last 10 years, it has gone completely off the rails. Teachers don't need any more balls to juggle when the material is already being taught.
My strongest inclination is that the reason the right-wing misinformation campaign works is not a teacher/critical thinking problem but a parenting problem: right-wing Xtians often employ corporal punishment, shaming, and other forms of cruelty, which means their children grow up with a lot of rage/resentment + a need to identify with the oppressor/powerful.
I wish I could agree with you about the level of civics education in the US, but if the encounters I have on a regular basis is any indication either your assessment is optimistic or a heck of a lot of people are sleeping through class.
Peter, you are correct, it makes no sense to pin "fixing" things only on hard-working teachers. There are many people and institutions working overtime to ensure that whatever those teachers have taught is overcome by misinformation, lies, etc. The "real problem," as most problems in our society are even though we can't come to grips with this fact, is multi-faceted. But, as a professor of education teaching undergrads, grad students and doctoral candidates at a major private university, I have to agree with Liz Burton--what the majority of these students don't know far exceeds what they do know about how our government is supposed to work, our country's history, even how governance of education works--despite the fact that most of my students are mid-career professionals in education.
Peter, thank you for your analysis here! As a former government teacher, I KNOW the students at my high school have received a full year of government and civics for the past 7-8 years. Admittedly, most students in Illinois have a semester as a graduation requirement, but they also have the basics of civics throughout their social studies K-8 curriculum. I feel the problem lies more in what they see demonstrated every day than the information provided to them in classes. Government in the last 30+ years has not lived up to values it is supposed to be based on as the politicians (including the courts) show they care more about what they can personally gain from their time in public service than what benefits the country as a whole. And in the last 10 years, it has gone completely off the rails. Teachers don't need any more balls to juggle when the material is already being taught.
My strongest inclination is that the reason the right-wing misinformation campaign works is not a teacher/critical thinking problem but a parenting problem: right-wing Xtians often employ corporal punishment, shaming, and other forms of cruelty, which means their children grow up with a lot of rage/resentment + a need to identify with the oppressor/powerful.
I wish I could agree with you about the level of civics education in the US, but if the encounters I have on a regular basis is any indication either your assessment is optimistic or a heck of a lot of people are sleeping through class.
Peter, you are correct, it makes no sense to pin "fixing" things only on hard-working teachers. There are many people and institutions working overtime to ensure that whatever those teachers have taught is overcome by misinformation, lies, etc. The "real problem," as most problems in our society are even though we can't come to grips with this fact, is multi-faceted. But, as a professor of education teaching undergrads, grad students and doctoral candidates at a major private university, I have to agree with Liz Burton--what the majority of these students don't know far exceeds what they do know about how our government is supposed to work, our country's history, even how governance of education works--despite the fact that most of my students are mid-career professionals in education.