This time last year I suffered from a lethal plague known as senioritis and all I could think about was walking across the stage to receive my undergraduate degree at graduation in just a few weeks. I struggled to convince myself into going to the majority of my classes, because the warm spring weather was just far too welcoming, but there were a handful of classes that I simply refused to even consider skipping…my political science classes.
Throughout my undergraduate studies, each of the political science courses in which I enrolled, forced me to take a simple question and transform it into a semester long adventure that was both complex and intricate. Here are a few examples of questions that left me scratching my head and questioning everything that I had previously learned and experienced:
- What is citizenship?
- How do civil rights differ from civil liberties?
- Who’s watching and why do they care?
It turns out that I am not alone here. According to William Damon, young adults who actively engage in their community as a citizens are a rare find today. In his article, Failing Liberty 101, Damon highlights the overall sense of apathy that the rising generation exhibits when dealing with the genre of civics and fulfilling their duties as a citizen.
Being American is not really special...I don't find being an American citizen very importantSome high school age students feel that “being American is not really special” and they “don’t find being an American citizen very important.” This general indifference towards citizenship, paired with an utter disregard for the countless sacrifices that the previous generations of Americans made in order to protect our rights as American citizens is simply disturbing.
It would be easy to blame the rising generation for their ignorance and watch as our society spirals downward into anarchy…and eventually despotism, but that will not do anyone any good. Rather, I feel that it is worthwhile to figure out why the rising generation…my generation…can simply care less about our duties as American citizens.
Around the time that our nation was born, Thomas Jefferson firmly believed that the central purpose of any education should be to encourage students to further their understanding and practice of civic virtue. Jefferson’s educational philosophy is all but extinct today since we rely so heavily on standardized test scores and focus our efforts on teaching students to excel in math and reading.
Now I do not want to go too far into the topic of standardized testing, but these cookie cutter assessments simply gauge how well an individual can preform tasks that are required to survive in today’s world—reading, math, science, etc. Students of all ages engage with the skills needed to succeed on standardized tests everyday…a person simply cannot live a meaningful life if they cannot read street signs or effectively exchange currency to buy food.
Citizenship is not an innate skill, so students need to formally learn what it means to be a citizen, and they need to engage with this material via personal interactions. First, it is vital that students develop a sense of civic purpose, such that they care enough about upholding their duties as a citizen that they are willing to act.To preserve the republic we must love it…everything depends on establishing this love in a republic; and to inspire it ought to be the principal business of education. — Montesquieu
Jefferson provides a clear understanding of how true civic purpose appears to the common person as he quotes Montesquieu; “to preserve the republic we must love it…everything depends on establishing this love in a republic; and to inspire it ought to be the principal business of education.” The question still remains, how can we teach students about citizenship when we are already overwhelmed with mastering the art of standardized testing?
*Written in response to William Damon's Failing Liberty 101 | Click Here to View Article*
