High School Students Should Be Required to Take Civics Classes

JohnLocke

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Nov-17-03 08:55 PM
Original message

High School Students Should Be Required to Take Civics Classes

Many students do not know anything about our government.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

wyldwolf

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Nov-17-03 08:59 PM
Response to Original message

1. I had to in high school!

Edited on Mon Nov-17-03 08:59 PM by wyldwolf

Early 80s.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

loudnclear

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Nov-19-03 09:17 PM
Response to Reply #1

19. In PA we had to take Civics and Current Events during the 50's and 60's

What happened to that requirement?

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Colin Ex

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Nov-17-03 09:01 PM
Response to Original message

2. And..?

Most high school students take government and economics classes. Many schools inform them of selective service, teach them to fill out a 1040, and register them to vote.

Most adults don't know anything about our government, either. What do you propose to do about them?

-C

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

ScreamingMeemie

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Nov-17-03 09:03 PM
Response to Original message

3. I had it in high school as a requirement in 1984. As I recall

many failed and many had to retake the class as seniors. I do not believe they did a proper job. I got most of my education in the 90's, well after high school. I think some of the government teachers need to learn that government goes beyond the system of checks and balances.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

karlschneider

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Nov-17-03 09:06 PM
Response to Original message

4. Of course they should. Do they now? All my grades from 5 to 9 included

those kinds of courses in the 1950s. Dunno what they have these days,
underwater basket weaving, probably.
:eyes:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Scott Lee

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Nov-17-03 09:09 PM
Response to Original message

5. Civics WAS a requirement of my graduation - when did it stop?

Gawd am I THAT old?

Let me also add, in my perfect world, fluency (not just barely passing one class) in at least one foreign language would be a prerequesite of high school graduation.

OK, flame away....

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Bronco69

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Nov-17-03 09:13 PM
Response to Reply #5

6. I agree!

"fluency (not just barely passing one class) in at least one foreign language would be a prerequesite of high school graduation." It reminds me of that old joke, "What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks one language? American."

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Hippo_Tron

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Nov-17-03 09:27 PM
Response to Reply #5

7. State of LA requires it still...

I had to take it to graduate. Easy A for me and was probably the best high school class I ever took.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Hippo_Tron

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Nov-17-03 09:31 PM
Response to Reply #5

8. I had quite a bit of trouble with French in High School

Finished in the C+/B- category. I don't think students should be REQUIRED to speak a second language fluently because...

1) At the age kids start learning foreign languages at now it would be damn near impossible for many kids.

2) If foreign language was taught at an earlier age, it would still be damn near impossible for some kids.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DrWeird

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Nov-17-03 09:37 PM
Response to Original message

9. They should also require art, music, P.E., science lab, woodshop...

To bad older generations, who took the civics classes, decided that they would rather not have an extra three dollars on their property taxes than adequately funded schools.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

FloridaJudy

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Nov-17-03 10:36 PM
Response to Original message

10. My High School Civics Class was a Dead Loss

Taught by a rabid right-wing froot loop (a paid-up member of the John Birch Society, if any of you remember what that was). All I got out of it was that this guy believed J. Edgar Hoover was all three branches of the government.

Come to think of it, maybe he *was*.

:puke:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

JohnLocke

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Nov-19-03 06:46 PM
Response to Reply #10

13. Ha!

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

HEyHEY

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Nov-17-03 10:37 PM
Response to Original message

11. Do you have "Social Studies" in the states?

It's like history, geography, and civics all mixed into one...usually a double block class.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

bobbieinok

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Nov-19-03 06:57 PM
Response to Reply #11

15. I had 3 years of 'social studies' in junior high in OK in the 50s

A great book we were encouraged to buy was Our Rugged Constitution (you can still find it in used book stores). It analyzed the constitution article by article on a 'you give - you get' pattern.

It was not written in a simplistic, baby style but it was also not written at a college level.

The problem with my classes and all civics/govt classes is that you get the ideal way a bill is passed, etc., nothing about the reality of wheeling and dealing.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

no_hypocrisy

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Nov-18-03 09:31 AM
Response to Original message

12. Agreed. And critical thinking of American and World history.

Heck, critical thinking in general. So the kids don't grow up to be robots and parrots of the Party Line or apathetic slaves.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Kitsune

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Nov-19-03 06:48 PM
Response to Original message

14. YES.

My high school didn't even HAVE a civics class. The only reason I know anything about how the government works is because I'm a politics and government nerd.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

mlawson

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Nov-19-03 07:04 PM
Response to Original message

16. HELL, YES!!!!!

And not some easy slide course taught by a coach, either!! REAL poltical science, required for graduation, no exceptions.

And college, as well!! When I was a college soph, in 1968, we would get off on a political argument in class, whether it was in Speech, PolySci, or other social sciences. The profs often gave up trying to get to his or her own material, and just let us rant. Nowadays it's really, really different.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

UrbScotty

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Nov-19-03 07:06 PM
Response to Original message

17. Civics was required for all students in Michigan in the 1990's

I'm not sure if it still is.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

MIScott87

(138 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Nov-19-03 07:20 PM
Response to Reply #17

18. We still are.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DU AdBot (1000+ posts)

Fri Apr 19th 2024, 10:02 PM
Response to Original message

Advertisements [?]

Top

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.