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Students in need of civics lessons

The study of American democracy is losing traction in schools, helping create a population disengaged from citizenship.

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published March 26, 2006

University of South Florida professor Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan thought she had devised the ideal icebreaker for her freshmen American government class.

A rousing game of "political bingo," she figured, would get everyone acquainted and primed for a spirited first-day discussion.

But 10 minutes into that first class three years ago, she realized her students, all recent local high school graduates, lacked the civic education background to answer even the simplest questions.

"I was surprised that so many of them didn't know what I thought was basic material," said the former White House staff member and consultant for the Democratic National Committee. "I guess I was naive."

Scourfield McLauchlan, 37, no longer plays the game on the first day of class because she has learned what some civic educators have feared for years: Many of today's young people are leaving high school with little understanding of how the American system of democracy works.

Civics class - as people of a certain generation understood it - is dead. Social studies is still taught, and civics might come up within it, but schools increasingly are focused on meeting reading and math goals set by the state and federal governments, which can leave little time for teaching civics and citizenship. And judging by voting rates and civic involvement, many citizens are increasingly disengaged.

"If we have people who know how to read but don't have the interest or the commitment to participate in the government, we as a country are going to have some very serious problems both economically and politically," said Tam Taylor, a spokeswoman for the California-based Center for Civic Education.

The Florida Bar recently joined the chorus of those calling for reform after reviewing the results of a Harris poll commissioned to test civic education knowledge among Florida adults. The poll, conducted in December, found that while 90 percent of those surveyed said the constitutional concept of separation of powers is important, only 59 percent actually knew what those separate powers are, choosing the correct answer to the question, "What are the three branches of government?"

Eighteen percent said "local, state and federal." A full 16 percent answered "Republican, Democrat and Independent."

(The correct answer: "Legislative, executive and judicial.")

Questions about the meaning of the terms "separation of powers" and "checks and balances" produced similar low percentages of correct answers - 46 percent and 61 percent respectively.

The results mirrored those of a national poll conducted by the American Bar Association last July. An informal poll of high school seniors administered last week by the St. Petersburg Times turned up similar findings.

In the Times poll, 29 percent of the students said separation of powers means that different federal departments have different authority. One in four said that one function of the judicial branch is to establish new courts.

Some local educators weren't surprised at the responses.

"It's embarrassing," said Randy Lightfoot, K-12 social studies supervisor for Pinellas County schools. "Other societies know more about our system than we do. That should not be."

Lightfoot, who taught social studies in the district for 30 years before becoming supervisor, said he has watched the gradual erosion of K-12 civic education in Florida public schools.

In Tallahassee, Democratic state Rep. Curtis Richardson tried to increase middle-school civics education by amending a major education bill Thursday. But Republicans rejected the amendment in floor debate.

"It's simply unnecessary," said Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, the chairman of the House Education Council. Baxley said high school teachers can already teach civics, including the Declaration of Independence, three branches of government and flag education.

High school students presently are required to earn three social studies credits. Individual districts, and in fact individual schools, can determine the sequence, but most students take one year of world history and one year of American history.

They also take a one-semester course in economics. What used to be a yearlong civics class has been replaced with a one-semester American government course. That's simply not enough, Lightfoot says.

The Florida Bar agrees. Citing statistics gathered by the Florida Law Related Education Association, which show that fewer than 10 percent of Florida's 67 counties require the teaching of civics in middle school, the Bar is lobbying local school boards to introduce a mandatory yearlong civics class for middle schoolers similar to one taught in Miami-Dade public schools.

The Bar also is calling for inclusion of civics on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Bar president Alan Bookman concedes a social studies FCAT may not be a popular idea, but "what gets tested is what gets taught."

Still, not everyone agrees that civic education is in such dire straits. Catherine Fleeger, an assistant superintendent in charge of Pinellas high schools, said a lot depends on how one defines "civic education."

"We still have American government classes and we still have economics, which get to the core of what America is and what our democracy is based on," Fleeger said. "High school students who are college bound participate in service learning as part of their Bright Futures programs, and character education is infused into the curriculum in ways that didn't exist in the past."

Michael Grego, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for Hillsborough County schools, said the district presently has more civic education than ever before.

"So much of this type of curriculum does not need to be above and beyond, but just needs to be infused into the existing curriculum," Grego said. "When it's done that way, it's not looked upon as an added burden, but as a way to teach history and responsible citizenship."

If a shortcoming in civic education exists at all, said David Mosrie, chief executive officer of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents, it has to do with students' inability to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-life situations.

"Civics to me is more than just knowing the various branches of government," Mosrie said. "We want students who can practice good citizenship along with that knowledge."

That's where hands-on programs such as those sponsored by the Center for Civic Education and the Florida Law Related Education Association come into play. In many cases, they can supplement "textbook civics" with "practical civics," teachers say.

Linda Smith, social studies department chair at Clearwater High School, has taken advantage of many such programs since she began teaching 30 years ago. Smith sponsors the school's Youth in Government club and encourages students to get involved in a city of Clearwater program that teaches them about city government.

She also takes students to Washington as part of the "Close Up" program to expose them to the inner workings of the federal government.

"The bottom line is knowing the three branches of government and how they check and balance each other," Smith said. "But there's a lot more to it than that. Things arise every day that demand a working knowledge of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights."

R. Fred Lewis, chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, sees the results of an uninformed citizenry every day in the courtroom. Over the years, Lewis said, he has seen an increased disregard for the jury system and a general whittling away of fundamental liberties.

"If people don't understand the core values of this great nation, how will they know if those liberties are being threatened or placed at risk?" asked Lewis, who works regularly with students as a volunteer with the Florida Law Related Education Association.

With so much at stake, the need for civic education at both the student and adult levels is critical, said American Bar Association president Michael Greco. But because habits instilled early tend to continue over a lifetime, it is imperative that schools continue to teach children "the ABCs of American citizenship," Greco said.

"Make no mistake, our nation's founders counted on an informed and active citizenry to keep government honest," he said. "When people check out in the numbers we are seeing, it really is a crisis to the functioning of our democracy."

[Last modified March 26, 2006, 07:45:04]