O’Connor: Make civics education more exciting, relevant
To understand how Sandra Day O’Connor came by her passion for improving civic instruction in the public schools, you have to go back to her 2005 retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court and her decision to advise emerging Central and Eastern Europe nations on setting up the structures of democracy.
The project was an immense success: Of the 26 nations that O’Connor and other volunteers advised, more than half are now members of the European Union.
Bringing civic literacy to the United States has been a bit more troublesome.
“I don’t want to be alarmist, but I want to make the point that it is the citizens of this nation who must preserve democracy,” O’Connor told the First General Session on Saturday. “And we must not forget that.”
O’Connor expressed concern about how U.S. students do relatively poorly on international math and science tests. But, she added: “There are other subjects that are critically important as well.”
The Arizona resident is co-chairing a national campaign to make civic instruction in the nation’s schools more exciting and relevant to today’s students. For a look at the curriculum, which will start becoming available in the fall, go to www.ourcourts.org.
Why is this so important? Well, consider that little more than one-third of Americans can name the three branches of government, but two-thirds can name at least one judge on “American Idol.”
“Less than one in 10 can name the chief justice of the United States,” O’Connor said.
The news isn’t all bad. O’Connor noted the increased participation of young people in political campaigns during this presidential election year and the record numbers of voters casting ballots in some state primaries and caucuses.
But she said we have a long way to go to prevent civics education from being squeezed out of the curriculum.
One problem is that much of traditional civics instruction is so dry that it “shocks the conscience,” said O’Connor, who admits that she’s biased on the subject.
But it doesn’t have to be this way; civics can be made interesting and relevant to today’s students’ lives. O’Connor noted high schools in Kona, Hawaii, and Kennebunkport, Maine (among others) that are making civics instruction more exciting and relevant. Civics classes are about teaching students to be citizens, O’Connor said, and they should come away with “a toolbox of knowledge.”
One way the nation’s civic ignorance is evident is in a disturbing distrust of judges, some of whom are dubbed “activists” by various interest groups, O’Connor said.
“Now, I always thought that an activist was someone who got up in the morning and went to work,” she added.
Across the country, there are movements to strip federal judges of their authority to rule in certain kinds of cases. In South Dakota, an initiative was introduced that would have allowed the losing party in a civil suit to sue the judge in the case, with the possibility of the judge going to jail. The measure was not approved.
“Now think of it: How could judges independently follow the law if they were afraid of going to prison or making a wrong decision?” O’Connor asked.
O’Connor said she was also concerned that 39 states elect judges, and the elections in 18 of these states are partisan. The money raised for some of these races rivals the amount amassed in some U.S. Senate campaigns. Again, O’Connor asked, how can a judge elected in such a manner remain impartial?
The quick fix is to have a state committee and the governor select judges based on merit. But the long-term solution, she said, is to improve the civic understanding -- and, thus, the civic involvement -- of the citizens of the future.
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