Civic Mission of Schools
"Education in civics and government should not be incidental to the schooling of American youth but a central purpose of education."
--Charles Quigley
In 2001, the Carnegie Foundation of New York and the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) convened a distinguished group of educators, researchers, and scholars to study the problem of civic learning in America and make recommendations for its improvement. After extensive deliberations, the panel identified four goals of civic learning and recommended six promising approaches to improve it.
Three Competencies of Civic Learning. Advancing the civic learning of students involves three strands of civic competencies.
- Civic-related knowledge, both historical and contemporary, including principles and institutions of constitutional government, the workings of those institutions, and the roles, rights and responsibilities of citizens in the process of governance;
- Participatory skills, including not only the ability to find, use, and present information about government and politics but also the social skills of working with others;
- Civic dispositions, including such principles as honesty, tolerance, civic and personal responsibility, respect for others, and observation of laws and rules.
"A generation that acquires knowledge without ever understanding how that knowledge can benefit the community is a generation that is not learning what it means to be citizens in a democracy."
--Elizabeth L. Hollander