Scott Warren is the co-founder and Executive Director of Generation Citizen. He is a current recipient of an Echoing Green Fellowship, and was a finalist for the Truman Scholarship. Scott founded Generation Citizen his senior year at Brown University with the aim of helping to create an authentic democratic experience for all youth across the country, keeping in mind the transformative power he first witnessed in Kenya. He graduated from Brown with a degree in International Relations.
On June 28, 2012, it seemed as if the entire country watched as the United States Supreme Court made one of its most significant rulings in recent history, deciding by a 5-4 margin to uphold the President Obama-endorsed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Regardless of one’s perspectives on health care, the decision was monumental, and contained aspects of victories for both Republicans (striking down Medicaid expansion and limiting congressional powers) and Democrats (upholding the individual mandate).
But in reality, it seemed that the majority of the country did not know what actually happened. A Pew Research Center poll conducted days after the ruling found that 30 percent of Americans were unsure whether the law was upheld, and 15 percent actually thought it was found unconstitutional (this is despite 77 percent of people saying they followed the court’s decision “very closely”).
This type of behavior is not isolated to the Supreme Court ruling. Only one-third of Americans can name all three branches of government, and one-third cannot name a single one. This knowledge impacts political participation directly: of the 172 recognized democracies, the United States ranks 139th in voter participation.
To be incredibly trite, this country faces a lot of problems right now, from stagnant economic growth to a broken tax code, from a historical federal deficit to waning influence in the international sphere. And, with reason, our electorate is completely disillusioned with government’s ability to tackle these complex issues, with Congress currently having an approval rating in the single digits. But in order to address all of these problems, we need our entire population, especially young people, to engage in the political process: debating in a substantive dialogue about the difficult issues we face on the local and national levels.
Many levers will be necessary to effectively reinvigorate our democratic ideals. But chief among these is bringing civics back into our schools. Until the 1960s, students commonly took three years of civics. Today, they may take one semester, if even that. Unsurprisingly, only 28 percent of 12th graders scored proficient or advanced on the National Assessment for Educational Progress’s civics exam, lower than any subject except history. In the pursuit of higher math, reading, and science academic results, civics has effectively been cast aside.
Bringing civics back is not just necessary to reinvigorate our democracy: it can help us engage students, and inspire them anew. Historically, even the word “civics” connotes boring lectures about the three branches of government and how a bill becomes a law. But when taught effectively, civics can be the most exciting subject in school.
Instead of solely teaching the facts about how government works, students should learn civics by doing civics. Students should be learning how to engage decision makers on issues they care about.
Students should be lobbying state legislators to create more effective teen jobs programs, engaging district officials in discussions on city-wide curricular decisions, and educating peers on the perils of gang violence. Civics can be the subject that brings every other subject together: it allows students to grasp the importance of mathematical surveys, persuasive writing, and deductive critical reasoning. Using these skills well, through civics, can allow students to actually create positive change in their communities.
This country was first created out of intensely idealistic democratic principles, in which individuals would come together, vigorously debate community issues, and, together, reach a verdict on policies. It was a nation of deep political discussions, community and town hall meetings, and civics classes. But unfortunately, we’ve gotten away from that. And now, more than 45 percent of our population does not know what happened in the most important Supreme Court ruling in recent history, and over 100 million eligible American voters will not participate in the 2012 election.
We need to reinvigorate our democracy in order to return this country to greatness. It will be a lengthy process. But it starts with ensuring that every student in this country receives an effective, stimulating, and empowering civics education. Here’s to an election season which starts a discussion on how to best accomplish this lofty, but essential goal.
