Top Reasons Why Every Child Needs a Civic Education Book

A democratic society depends on citizens with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to sustain constitutional self-government. Good civic education teaches children about rights and responsibilities and empowers them to live as community members.

Social justice-oriented civic knowledge should affirm youth from historically oppressed communities and encourage their active participation in democracy. It should also teach that social change requires a commitment to the common good, not just an individual’s benefits.

It’s Good for Your Brain

Civic education is a core component of the school experience. It is one of the few educational endeavors formally mandated by the government in every state. For example, a curriculum framework for Pre-K to Twelfth grade explicitly calls for children to be exposed to books showing fairness, friendship, responsibility, and respect for one another as part of their civic education (2018 History and Social Science Framework).

But our democracy is polarized, with political trust and a shared standard of truth breaking down. This book offers educators the tools to reimagine civic education for a new generation, embracing disciplinary knowledge and voice. Through historical case studies, theoretical reflections and reports on programs that utilize rhetorical pedagogies to educate for citizenship, it demonstrates how to reinvigorate the civic mission of schools in the modern context.

It’s Good for Your Heart

Civic education book for children help students understand their government’s functioning and how it relates to other governments. This understanding gives students the tools to become aware, responsible adult participants in our democracy.

As American students learn about their political system and the rights and responsibilities of citizens, they can begin to develop the habits of character, mind and heart that will enable them to sustain constitutional democracy. As some argued, democratic ethos is not something that happens: It must be taught and nurtured.

Civics literacy enables citizens to keep government entities in check, impede attempts to undermine democratic norms and processes and create avenues for peaceful change. Yet, despite the centrality of these principles, civic learning must also recognize the structural injustices that prevent equal participation.

It’s Good for Your Soul

Educators must address the fundamental questions about what it means to be a citizen and how citizens can participate in democracy. They must also teach that democracy is not a machine that will go of itself but needs to be consciously reproduced one generation after another. This requires the acquisition of knowledge, the development of skills and the cultivation of dispositions or traits of character that undergird a constitutional democracy.

Teachers need to provide students with a rich and varied education that includes instruction in civics from kindergarten through twelfth grade. They must also seriously consider the time allocation for civics and the corresponding teacher professional development and support.

Some argue that democracy requires a citizenry educated in the principles of democracy. Others post that a free society cannot survive without a well-informed public supporting democratic institutions and practices.

Educators, civic organizations, and governmental institutions are important in promoting this goal. Several educators have written about their efforts to promote civic education in schools.

This edited volume examines various projects involving school-university-community collaborative educational endeavors. It features the work of courageous educators committed to civic education writ large.

Combining historical case studies, theoretical reflections, and reports on programs that use rhetorical pedagogies to educate for citizenship, this book explores new ideas about reinvigorating curricular and co-curricular speech and debate by recovering and reinventing their historic mission as civic education.

It’s Good for Your Mind

Good civic education teaches the habits of mind and heart that sustain constitutional democracy. It enables citizens to understand the underlying principles of democracy and to recognize that a society cannot be free unless every person participates in its governance.

It also teaches that rights and responsibilities go hand in hand; liberty is most fully realized when each person takes on the duties and obligations of citizenship. It encourages a sense of obligation to the political community, reflecting respect for others and a commitment to democratic values.

Teaching civics is not only important for children to learn, it’s also good for them. Studies have shown that children exposed to civic lessons in school tend to be more active members of their communities and have a better quality of life.

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