This article refers explicitly to North Carolina, but the issue is nationwide. Civics education is not prioritized and therefore not funded. Plus, there are no national standards for a civics curriculum, so it's just whatever sad coverage individual teachers feel like giving.
https://carolinapublicpress.org/72172/nc-lags-in-civic-engagement-gaps-in-civics-learning-part-of-the-problem/
While there could be a host of reasons for North Carolina’s relative disengagement, one factor is at the center of it all: civic education, or the lack thereof.
Civic education teaches students how their government works, and their place in it. If done well, it arms them with the knowledge, confidence and motivation to participate in their local communities, and demonstrates the influence they can have in governmental decision making.
But too often, civic education is pushed to the side to make way for other priorities, and what instruction remains may be watered down to avoid conflict.
This article is the first in Civics Unlearned, a three-part investigative series from Carolina Public Press that explores how, and to what extent, a deprioritization of formal civic education has led to a generation of disengaged and polarized North Carolinians.
This article discusses the problem — civic engagement is relatively low in North Carolina, particularly among youth, and formal civic education doesn’t appear to be doing its part to bolster participation. As a result, public policy only represents a portion of the populace, and a generation of North Carolinians are growing up unprepared to work with each other and their government to solve community problems.
The second article explores how conflicting priorities and inconsistent delivery have hamstrung quality civic education. The final article suggests ways to bolster civic education and engagement, both within and beyond the formal education system.
= new reply since forum marked as read