Honor Constitution Day by advancing civics education & principles every day
Civil rights lawyers/educators Ruthe Ashley & John Trasviña say, “Civics classes equip students to lead in an increasingly diverse democracy”
Commemorating the United States Constitution on the anniversary of its signing on September 17, 1787 must be more than a one-day habit. Recognizing, valuing and protecting the Constitution must be a year-round activity first and foremost in our public schools.
Civics education, once a core purpose of public education, has been forgotten by some while a true education and accounting of our complete history has never been included in public instruction. Now is the time for civics education and ethnic studies to shape a future of respect for individual constitutional rights and responsibilities and mutual respect among communities, including communities of color. California’s diverse population, where no racial or ethnic group constitutes a majority, has both the opportunity and obligation to lead the way forward.
Our organizations, California LAW (Leadership-Access-Workforce) Pathways and Generation Citizen, empower young people and equip teachers through education and mentoring to assume active roles in effective citizenship and help make the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government more representative and responsive to the population they serve.
California LAW Pathways is composed of an educational pipeline from high school law academies, community colleges, four-year universities and law schools to diversify California’s legal profession. Generation Citizen teacher training and programming in middle and high schools throughout the San Francisco Bay Area help students identify problems, listen to people with whom they may have disagreeing viewpoints and identify, explore and advocate for alternative solutions.
The most recent State Bar of California Diversity Report Card released this month documents some of the work that must be accomplished: Despite being a majority of the population, Latino and Asian Pacific American attorneys are only 20% of California’s lawyers. The percentage of new admittees to the bar who are African American was 3% in 1990 and just 4% in 2018.
Thanks to legislative progress being made in Sacramento and Washington D.C., California schools can better acquaint students to the histories and contributions of people of all backgrounds and provide them the civic tools to have a voice in policies to ameliorate inequities and help communities overcome systemic obstacles to their success.
Statewide, under a law signed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2017 but not yet fully implemented, local school districts are authorized to award the California State Seal of Engagement to high school students who have engaged in academic work in a productive way, demonstrated their capacity for civic skills and civic dispositions, participated in a civic action project, and mastered key content. In the school year 2020–21, the first year of the Seal’s implementation, Orange County educators led the way. Over 2400 high school students in Anaheim and Irvine accounted for fully 45% of students statewide earning the state seal for their participation in civic engagement activities across content areas and demonstration of civic traits like empathy and skills like reflection. Aligned with school initiatives supporting the whole child, civics programs also help students improve self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship skills.
These skills create a healthy environment for students to learn about and understand California’s past, the students of a different background presently sitting across from them in class or living across from them in their or another neighborhood and how they, together, can and must shape California’s future. The skills gained in California LAW Pathway’s 23 high school law academies and 28 community colleges prepare students for further academic and professional opportunities as lawyers or in law-related fields. Whether they ultimately become attorneys, they understand the justice system and are better able to analyze and advocate not just in the future, but now. Children in newcomer families, impoverished backgrounds or split environments frequently are required to take on adult roles while still in school interacting with landlords, government bureaucracies or health systems for their parents who may be less skilled in English or in American systems. Civics education can be an empowering tool for carrying out these responsibilities. Civics education builds better citizens as well as ensures a future that understands the importance of a democracy in a free society.
Despite increased education funding from Sacramento and Washington, D.C., our schools still have a struggle in funding civics education programming. While federal funding for Science, Technical, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) averages $54 per student, only a nickel per student is spent on civics education. Bipartisan legislation in the form of the USA Civics Act (S. 4403) provides federal funding for school districts’ civics classes, scholarships to promote recruiting, training, and retaining a diverse teacher workforce in the subject, and grants to colleges and universities to support teachers and research into effective civics teaching methods. Additionally, the Civics Secures Democracy Act (S. 4384) provides resources to expand educational programs in American civics and history, including grant and fellowship programs and reauthorizing various programs. It, too, has strong bipartisan support. Californians in the U.S. Senate and House should support these bills.
Presented well, civics can go beyond infusing students with information about the legislative process and History/Social Science content. Civics can inspire students to develop written and oral communication skills, to learn how to listen to contrary points of view, to support their arguments and be persuasive to others, and to collaborate on problem solving. Understanding how government works can instill faith in our institutions as well as focus attention on how and where to improve them. Civic education can shape a “more perfect” American political landscape, one that includes all people trained to participate in informed engagement and civic discourse.
Our students –native-born and those who come from all over the world — start out with many different levels of interest and exposure to government, politics and civics. We should expect our schools to be able to provide young people a common understanding of our laws and civic institutions and their places within them. Together, the California State Seal of Civic Engagement, ethnic studies, legal career training and federal support for civics in the classroom respect and advance constitutional principles throughout the year and define the educational support for young people fully entering the democracy.
Long time legal and civil rights advocates and educators, Ruthe Ashley is chair of California LAW Pathways and John Trasviña is California senior advisor at Generation Citizen. For more information, find us on Twitter at @JohnTrasvina @GenCitizen and @CalLawPathway
