… Amid obsession with science, technology, engineering and math and endless standardizing testing, social studies has been marginalized in public schools and civics education is on a milk carton. American students don’t know about the Bill of Rights, the three branches of government, where laws come from, the role of the bureaucracy, habeas corpus, presumption of innocence and the function of a free press. These things were once drummed in by teachers, and scout leaders, and clergy and freakin’ Superman. Truth, justice and the American way. Those were the days.
Yeah, it was often a bit over the top and jingoistic — and the Trail of Tears got short shrift — but it also laid out the structure of democracy, and its stakes. It placed us in sharp relief vis-a-vis authoritarian states, pure dictatorships and at least one major Evil Empire. It provided context. Its absence, conversely, has created a vacuum filled with misinformation, disinformation and worse. Which has left citizens suspicious and complacent. Even despairing. Which is the stuff of a vicious cycle, also known as the spiraling vortex of ruin. …
Let’s create a brand for civic understanding and engagement, embracing all of the countless institutions with a dog in the democracy fight. Let’s put it in magazines and newspapers, TV shows and podcasts, country songs and video games. And, of course, classrooms everywhere. To tell stories of real people and real consequences. To separate truth from mythology. To create a social incentive for civic participation. To rekindle understanding and appreciation of our democratic institutions and core values. In short, without whitewashing our sins, to restore faith in the American way. CONT.
Bob Garfield, USA Today