Educational Leadership

Ever-recurrent issues—such as the death penalty, abortion, and gun control—are always discussed, as are bills that speak to students on a personal level. For instance, last year one of my pupils, Justin, who regularly places in local salmon fishing tournaments, lobbied his legislators on a fisheries preservation bill. For his senior project, he waded into the congressional war over the Pebble Mine, the proposed largest open-pit mine in North America. Why? Because the mine would be in the headwaters of Alaska’s Bristol Bay, home to the world’s greatest remaining salmon fishery.

Before going to Olympia, all students are required to amass at least 300 signatures to submit to a legislator. Students compete to get the most signatures and make the hottest Olympia flyers, which they post around school and the neighborhood. Clipboard in hand, they go about the business of being a citizen and engaging others in that business. As students advocate for or against their bills around the community, they actively teach their fellow citizens not only about current political issues, but also about the political process itself. From school hallways to basketball games, from the corner store to their places of worship, students are expected to “preach” the merits of their position.

In 2007, my students helped pass SB 5098, a guaranteed low-income scholarship program. The students became such experts on the various provisions of the bill, including tax policies and scholarship funding formulas, that the state Higher Education Coordinating Board spent 90 minutes reviewing the bill with 60 student “experts.” The students convinced the board to increase the grade point average eligibility requirement from 2.0 to 2. 5 because they thought a 2.0 was “a handout.” The bill, with its revised minimum grade point average requirement, passed into law, and many of their siblings, relatives, and neighbors are enjoying the benefits of this program right now.

Or consider what my juniors took on last spring, when Congress moved to slash Franklin’s federal Learn and Serve outreach coordinator position. They wrote letters, sent tweets and e-mails, and gathered more than 3,000 petition signatures to send to President Obama to save the position. They produced this blizzard of political action in less than a week.

Students believe it’s their civic duty to share their opinions and their growing wisdom with the community.

Federal- and state-level service learning activities like these build bridges between students and their elected representatives—a win-win situation for everyone involved. Over the years, I’ve had classroom visits from school board members, state representatives and senators, the League of Women Voters, and education policymakers from the state capitol. The best way to build bridges to the outside world is to give your students the skills and guidance to invite outsiders to your classroom or school.

A Bold Proposition

Civics education is everyone’s responsibility and everyone’s opportunity for growth and gratification. Nevertheless, infusing a K– 12 civics lens into all classrooms is a bold proposition that will require a major retooling of the standards movement and some focused teacher professional development—and, especially, the will to make it happen.

Like all change, such an approach will encounter resistance. Educators should recall the legacy of Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish Supreme Court justice. In a 1927 decision,

Whitney v. California, Brandeis wrote
that “the processes of education” require
“more speech, not enforced silence” and
that our country’s founders knew that
“public discussion is a political duty.”
So let’s engage in that discussion and
let our students’ voices be heard. EL

References

Baker, E. (2007). Child and adolescent suicide
at highest rate in fifteen years. Retrieved
from the American Academy of Child
and Adolescent Psychology at www
. aacap.org/cs/2007_press_releases/
american_academy_of_child_and_
adolescent_psychiatry_concerned_by_
Billig, S. H., & Klute, M. M. (2003). The
impact of service-learning on MEAP:
A large-scale study of Michigan Learn
and Serve grantees. Presentation at the
National Service-Learning Conference,
Minneapolis, MN.

Bridgeland, J. M., DiIulio, J. J., & Morison, K. B. (2006). The silent epidemic: Perspectives of high school dropouts. Seattle, WA: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Dillon, S. (2011, May 4). Failing grades on civics exam called a “crisis.” New York Times, p. A23.

Resmovits, J. (2011, July 4). Federal civics test shows little progress. Huffington Post. Retrieved from www.huffingtonpost .com/2011/05/04/federal-civics-test- shows_n_857776.html.

Sandel, M. J. (2009). Justice: What’s the right thing to do? New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Wingert, P. (2010, June 13). The (some-
what) good and (mostly) bad news about
high school dropout rates. Newsweek.
Retrieved from The Daily Beast at www
. thedailybeast.com/newsweek/blogs/
the-gaggle/2010/06/14/the-somewhat-
good-and-mostly-bad-news-about-high-
Copyright © 2012 Web Hutchins

Web Hutchins teaches at McClure Middle School in Seattle, Washington. Before that, he taught and developed core curriculum in the John Stanford Public Service and Political Science Academy at Franklin High School. He is the founder of the Civics for All initiative ( www.civicsforall.org); webhutchins@ civicsforall.org.