What Lawyers Do

Want to have a public that is more informed about legal issues like tort reform or affirmative action? Or how about the role of the military or welfare reform?

In “America 101,” in the current issue of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Eric Lane, a Hofstra Professor, proposes a way to remedy the recent decline in civic education in America. American citizens need a deeper understanding of the Constitution and how our government functions, he writes, and this should be accomplished by giving students a civic education beginning at a young age. This will create a stronger and more vigorous democracy and also foster the qualities of tolerance and understanding. 

Lane notes that, ironically, the decline of civic knowledge has correlated with the increase in size of government: 

As the role of government has enormously expanded over the last 80 years, and as our voting rolls have opened to more and more groups of people, efforts to prepare our citizens for their civic responsibilities have fallen precipitously.

This decline, he argues, ends up putting our constitutional rights and freedoms at risk as we willingly capitulate them during times of crisis, such as happened after 9/11, without a full understanding of the consequences. We take our rights for granted, think they will always be there, and don’t mind so much when we slowly relinquish them. 

Higher education is also a culprit. Rather than educating students to become good citizens and challenging them with questions about politics, philosophy, values, and morality, our colleges and universities have focused on training students to enter the workforce. Lane quotes former Harvard University President Derek Bok: 

“Civic education in the public schools has been almost totally eclipsed by a preoccupation with preparing the workforce of a global economy. Most universities no longer treat the preparation of citizens as an explicit goal of their curriculum.”

Lane claims that civic education fell out of style in the universities in the 1960’s because politics was such a hotbed subject after the Vietnam War that it could lead to acrimonious discussion, civic education was seen as akin to indoctrination, and also because it was viewed by academics as a less intellectual pursuit.

Lane asserts that the decline in civic education has atomized the public, causing us to focus inward. The spirit of “we,” he says, has been replaced by the culture of “me.”

He sets forth a prescription for change that begins in elementary school and continues throughout the public education system. He says:

• Accordingly, sometime in fourth or fifth grade students should take their first civics-oriented course. This course should also include some basics of American history; call it the American Constitution I. It should introduce the structural details of the Constitution and their significance, as well as the basics of the Declaration of Independence. Students should start to learn about the various visions that inspired them and how they changed. 
• More sophisticated versions of this same course, which would also be required, should be offered again in middle school and high school–American Constitution II and III. The essential goal is a deep understanding and appreciation of our Constitution, but the courses should also provide students with capacity for the critical examination of the system.
• Starting in middle school and continuing through high school, students should also be required to take classes in current events, at least four semesters over this six-year period. Here the goal is not just (or merely) a discussion of today’s events, but to use current events as a means of giving life to the Constitution. A discussion of the Iraq War could be used to talk about war powers, executive powers, legislative powers, separation of powers, decision-making processes, and the role of the courts. Schools should also encourage and aid student participation in extracurricular campus or outside organizations, such as internships and service clubs. We need far greater emphasis throughout our society on community and national service.

A more comprehensive civic education, of course, could have its drawbacks since it would be susceptible to the political influence of local school boards and administrators. But Lane suggests an interesting idea whose benefits would likely outweigh its drawbacks. Civic education could shed the light of reason on hot-button issues like tort reform, affirmative action, and welfare reform that are widely misunderstood and subject to false publicity, so that the public takes a more thoughtful and tolerant approach to them.