Invest in Democracy: Promote Civic Educationvpthomas December 3, 2024 Our guest author is Stan Litow, a professor at Columbia University; author of Breaking Barriers: How P-TECH Schools Create a Pathway From High School to College to Career and The Challenge for Business and Society: From Risk to Reward; a columnist at Barron's; a Trustee at the State University of New York (SUNY); and a member of the the Shanker Institute Board. The 2024 Election results are behind us. The implications of the vote and its ability to cloud the future are looming larger and larger, and the results and impact on Americans are increasingly looking grim or uncertain. While a majority of Americans support women's rights and access to health care both policies are increasingly at risk. While most Americans believe Climate Change is a real threat, there is a strong likelihood that environmental policy and programs are  also at risk. Most Americans also trust scientists and doctors. As a result of their trust, Americans favor vaccination which are essential to deal with health care crises like measles,  mumps, or Covid, but that too is now at risk, along with the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid. And the same is true for gun violence. Most Americans believe that background checks are critically important but that, too, seems unlikely.   For those of us who care deeply about our nation’s schools, the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education’s support for students and schools, such as Title I funding and support for private school vouchers, could devastate our entire public education system and disadvantage millions of students, teachers and parents.  While a majority of Americans voted for a presidential candidate who does not hold the same views as a majority of Americans on these issues, locally, where they had the opportunity on their ballots, Americans largely did vote to support abortion rights, to require paid sick leave, mitigating climate change, and to support our public schools. Clearly there are a litany of issues that people feel strongly about but their vote in the presidential election appeared to be at variance with what they did with their local vote.  For many Americans it is hard to understand how voters could have supported a Presidential candidate and some candidates for the Senate and House whose policy positions were so at variance with the views of most voters. One explanation is that people's views about inflation and the economy clouded their views about any and all other issues, and many did not fully understand the degree to which policies they disagreed with, would be at risk and then implemented post-election.   As a result, many will and should choose to get on board with political activities moving toward the midterms. However, there are concrete and specific actions that are less political and more societal, and many involve education and its ability to address the risks involved in the 2024 election results and far beyond. One promising idea involves increasing civic knowledge and civic action. Let me share two examples of what to do, and how to do it.  Last month, the State University of New York (SUNY), the nation's largest public university, altered its General Education requirements to add civic education to be not an option but a requirement for all SUNY students. As a result, all of SUNY's 60 plus campuses and its hundreds of thousands of students, will have to both add courses in civics and incorporate civic learning into all curriculum areas. This will not be easy to do, but if done correctly and effectively will raise the level of civic understanding across the student population today, and into the future. Imagine the result if all our colleges and universities followed SUNY's lead and did the same.   Another action to promote democracy and civic learning was led by Albert Shanker Institute, a thinktank founded by the AFT, which created Action Civics lessons and collaborates with ShareMyLesson on civic education, giving millions of U.S. teachers the opportunity to find high quality lesson plans and strategies. Here too the results of these lessons will be significant, as students in classes across the nation will better understand why their votes will be important. Teachers and Administrators as well as citizens can urge broader and more comprehensive understanding and use of Share My Lesson, and civic lesson planning can become standard practice, reaching millions of students.  Step two is the importance of voters' ability to understand what are referenced as economic or "kitchen table" issues. Many voters troubled by the price of eggs and rent felt abandoned and supported officials who overstated the negative state of the economy and its impact on voters. While gas prices are down below $3 a gallon, and the state of the economy is sound, with jobs added and individuals 401k's growing, some voters are not feeling it. Had the truth, which was regularly reported in traditional media including financial publications, been understood the election results might have been different. This too is something, if it were integrated into our education efforts, would yield results with the future voting population.  To deal with this challenge we need to make sure that students, teachers and parents have broader access to accurate and up to date financial information. One publication, the Financial Times,  offers students  and teachers free access to all of its materials via www.ft.com/schoolsarefree, offering curriculum enrichment to enhance learning; it also offers teachers the opportunity to submit questions and get answers regarding integration into classroom work.    As we put the 2024 election results in the rear-view mirror and witness the impact of our local and national votes in the coming months, we have an opportunity to invest in civics education so the next generation of voters will have a greater understanding of civics and economics. While this will not solve all our problems in the short run, we all have a role as citizens to understand the impact on society and act and act convincingly to make sure our Democracy Survives. Issues Areas Civic Education by Stan Litow Invest in civics education for the next generation of voters.

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