Civics… as it should have been

I barely remember my civics class – I think it was half a semester and we didn’t have a book. I can’t remember the grade – maybe 4th? Either I am a wretched citizen, or the preparations were inadequate. But I don’t think I’m alone; I suspect others can’t remember their civics class. I suspect this because many people I’ve spoken with don’t know much about our government, it’s procedures and administration or even what it does. This bothers me tremendously; clearly more than it does others.

It seems to me that Obama’s most important policy is his education, for what good is a car if the owners can not learn how to operate it? A democracy (or representative republic) requires participation and participation requires education. Everything else is Fiat, without an educated citizenry. A first pass would be a civics class each year – recognizing the need to learn more deeply about your responsibilities as you become more responsible is absolutely required. It is ludicrous to expect a participatory democracy when people don’t even know about the options or the rules to participation.

I will now envision a curriculum:

First, stop feeding bullshit to the kids; stop with all the freedom babble. When they’re older, you can explain to them that participation in a democracy inherently limits your freedoms because there is no, “… and if I don’t get my way, I’ll just ignore it” clause. But in the mean time, there’s no need to pollute the idea of freedom before it’s had a chance to germinate, so just stay away from that word all together until they really start badgering you about it.

After you stop with the bullshit, get started with the kids. What should be expected of a child in a civil society. I’m not talking manners, either. What can they contribute to a society? Hmm… well, nothing, I suppose. Kill them all! No Use, No Life! … …. hehe, ok, wait, just kidding. sorry – a bit of a digression; no, seriously – how about teaching kids about streets and safety. How, as a society, each individual must agree to certain rules so that no one gets hurt. Kids should learn that they are agreeing to follow the rules even if they don’t realize it – but that they have a choice. It seems to me that too early, children learn they don’t have a choice in things, setting the stage for a docile electorate that prefers not to participate.

In grade school, it seemed I was aware people went to work, someone worked on the streets, teachers existed, and we counted money, etc. Why shouldn’t we learn how a tax system operates? I learned about counting my change after buying an apple. Why don’t we learn about the costs of government – counting our change after building a road or a hospital? If I’d had a civics class that explained to me how Reagan decided ketchup was the equivalent of a salad, I could have also learned how to dispute that. I think I was in 5th grade when I noticed it – and if I’d known then, I would have loved to spend the time I didn’t do homework on changing a ridiculous system.

In high school, we wasted tremendous hours on hairspray and the New Kids on the Block; these things are fine, but we could have been learning how to participate in our democracy. When they made prison something available for private enterprise, for a profit to be made from operating prisons as a contract service to the government, we could have made a choice and participated. These could be the foundation of any civics course, year after year; affecting the government that effects you.

I have to believe that if one made civic education as much of a priority as math and reading, you would have people using their education daily in the same way they do math and reading. We are educated to function as consumers, and it’s time we be educated to function as citizens. Through out each grade, there must be one hundred issues that concern children, and reasonably require their participation – from helping to design a new park or playground they will use, to transitioning into tax paying, service consuming citizens who will participate in their own stewardship.