Citizenship
finishes up her master of education
degree; and Zenriquez, who works at
Panasonic and volunteers at Franklin as
a mentor and coach.
The Threats to Civics Education
Whether students go straight into the
work world or earn the title of college
graduate, all students must be groomed
for the most honorable title in the
land—that of citizen. However, according to former Supreme Court Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor, America has a
“crisis on our hands when it comes to
civics education” (Dillon, 2011, p. A23).
Her alarm was prompted by the
75 percent of teens who failed the 2010
National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP) civics test.
Standards-based education seems
to be civics-bereft education. The
teach-to-the-test imperatives of No
Child Left Behind, Race to the Top,
and the common core state standards
dominate our schools. According to Ted
McConnell, who works with O’Connor
as the executive director of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools,
“We’re failing to educate the next
generation in civic knowledge, civic
skills, and the disposition to participate
[because] kids are being drilled to death
photo courtesy of audra rutherford
in math and reading” (quoted in Resmovits, 2011). The words civic and civics
don’t appear in any of the common core
state standards that have been adopted
in 45 U.S. states.
The crisis in civics education is a
reflection of the profound economic,
social, political, and spiritual malaise
that our nation and our children are
enduring. With 1. 3 million students
dropping out of school each year
(Wingert, 2010) and adolescent suicide
rates on the rise (Baker, 2007), a substantial proportion of our young people
seem to be grappling with a meaninglessness and hopelessness in their lives.
