Conflict, Legitimacy and Government Reform: Equitable Allocation of ...

Panel Discussion
this vision that all education had civic purposes and that every teacher
was a civics teacher. Evidence of the centrality of that vision to our
school system is the fact that 40 of our 50 state constitutions underline
the importance of civic literacy; 13 state constitutions identify the
central purpose of their educational system as promoting good
citizenship, democracy, and free government. 1
The origin of the U.S. public school system in the search for civic
literacy and virtue contrasts with the diverse missions our school systems
identify as central today. Those missions include preparing students to be
good economic units in an industrial production process; making
students “happy” and “well-rounded;” preparing them to compete
with other nations in science and math to ensure our technological and
military superiority; and many others. Instead of occupying a central role
in schools, civic education is relegated to the fringes of the educational
curriculum, if it is included at all.
On May 16, 2007, the latest National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP) Civics Report Card was issued. In the words of the
Center for Civic Education’s Executive Director, Charles N. Quigley, the
NAEP study.
…is a confirmation of the neglect that many professionals in the
field of civic education have known about for many years: that the vast
majority of our young people are either not taught civics and government
at all, or they are taught too little, too late, and inadequately. The results
confirm the fact that the past several decades of educational policy and
practice have focused more and more on developing the worker at the
expense of the citizen. These findings are grounds for concern, and they
call for a national response to remedy a serious deficiency in the
education of American citizens. 2
1 The Civic Mission of the Schools, Carnegie Corporation of New York and CIRCLE,
The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Education, 2003.
2 Charles N. Quigley, Executive Director, Center for Civic Education, “Response to
the May 16, 2007, Release of the 2006 National Assessment of Educational Progress
Civics Report Card” Center for Civic Education, May 16, 2007
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