Transcripts For CSPAN Education Civic Engagement 20180222 :

Becometing students to more politically engaged. An event hosted by the center for american progress, and. Eneration citizen good morning, everyone. I am that second of vice atsident of external affairs the center of american progress. On behalf of our great partners at generation citizen, i want to thank everyone of you for joining us for this important conversation. When we first planned this event a few weeks ago, we wanted to talk about the state of Civic Engagement among young people in our country. Given the recent outcry and horrific acts at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in heartland and those that survived this choosing, and that our keynote speaker has deep ties to florida, i think todays discussion takes on a whole different meaning. Now perhaps more than ever, our government and its leaders must prove they are not only listening to our nations young people, but they are doing everything in their power to ensure all students feel protected and valued in the eyes of our society. One small step in that process we we start toif engage more young people at an earlier age. Right now, only nine states along with washington, d. C. Require High School Students to complete a full year of civics before they can graduate. This likely explains why, according to a recent study, of allss than 25 students achieve proficient scores in the civics exams administered by the national ofassessment of educational progress. Importantly, americas Civic Engagement is at an alltime low. Voter participation and public trust in government remains near historic lows, particularly with our nations young people. Less than half of millennials are voting, and only 18 of the public trusts theirperhaps moren washington to do the right thing. This creates a vicious cycle where too Many Americans are dissatisfied with government, and yet still fail to vote, because they believe their voices will not be heard. The good news is across the country we can find inspiring activists, policymakers, educators, and others turning apathy into action. We are honored to welcome four outstanding panelists who are committed to motivating and we are honored toinsights. First, i have the great privilege of using our keynote speaker today, senator bob graham. Americas students. We look forward to their during his remarkable career as a public servant, senator graham made it his mission to make lifetime for folks in his home state of florida. He has served as a member of the florida legislature, as the 38th governor of the state of florida, and as member of the United States senate. While in office, senator graham helped to redefine the term Civic Engagement. As governor, he spent nearly 400 days working in a wide range of jobs, from Police Officer to construction worker, from fisherman to teacher, so he could better understand the challenges facing the people he represented. Since leaving the senate, senator graham has devoted his energy toward a training the next generation of civic leaders. He has founded the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at university of florida to teach people the skills of democratic governance. Joint opened the Florida Center citizenship to strengthen Civics Education in the sunshine state, and rally its legislature to require a Civics Education for all students. Senator graham truly embodies what it means to be an agent of change at this local, state, and federal levels. We are so honored to could join us this morning to talk about he could join us this morning to talk about his experiences. Please join me in a warm welcome for senator bob graham. Please join me in [applause] thank you very much for that kind introduction. Thank you for the opportunity that the center has given me to talk about a thank you very much for that kind introduction. Subject about which i am passionate, and which i believe the nation is beginning to recognize its central importance. Depressed, first sad end by what occurred at Stoneman Douglas high school a week ago today. And abouted and life what the students and in life and about what the students have done in response to the tragedy. What interests me is for, like states,orida, like most stopped teaching civics in the 1960s. Civics was restored by 2009,ative action in became operational in 2011. The significance of those numbers is this group of students who are now at Stoneman Douglas Senior High School were the first wave of students in haveda Public Education to civics in almost four decades. The fact they are now empowered to take the actions have we are se eing, and we hope we see actions that will result in change in the near future, i think is a testimony to the value of exposing young people to their rights, responsibilities, and competencies necessary to a member ofe as a democracy. We have a story within a story within a story occurring now. A tragic event might be one it takes to achieve a renewal what it takes to achieve a renewal to prepare all our people, but particularly young people as citizens in a democracy. This is occurring at a time when there are plenty of headlines that indicate the severity of the current circumstance. From the new yorker isaugust of last year, america headed for a new kind of civil war . A group of scholars were before charlottesville to discuss the issue of whether lee vs. Was headed not a grant, but a new form of civil war. 35 of the participants in this program felt that we were, and it would be between 10 to 15 years. David brooks in the New York Times in january opined about how democracies perish. Vox brought together 20 of americas top political scientists to discuss democracy. They were scared. If Current Trends continue for another 20 or 30 years, democracy will be toast. And then finally, from the boston globe, a toxic collection is damaging the seed corn of democracy, young voters. The statistics that support those headlines are equally distressing. Most americans have little knowledge of national, state, or local government. A 2017 survey indicated only 26 of americans could name the three branches of government. There is a declining acceptance citizenship disposability citizenship responsibility. In 2016 u. S. Voter turnout was 55. 7 , which ranked us 28th among 35 developed, democratic countries in the world. Local elections are even more distressing. Between the beginning of this century and 10 years later, the number of persons in the 144 largest metropolitan areas of america who voted in local elections declined from 26 to 20 . Between the beginning of this century and 10 years later, the in 2013, only 6. 4 of americans in 2013, only 6. 4 of americans belonged to an organization such as the league of women voters or a pta that had a goal of a pta that had a goal of community action. Younger voters are a particular, losing confidence in democracy. Last year a survey indicated that 35 of millennials were losing faith in democracy and confidence in the democratic system as a means of governance and voter turnout in every president ial election since 2004, the lowest generational grouping have been millennials. In 2012, whereas, the oldest generation, over 65, 72 of americans voted, millennials were only 54 . Millennials were only 46 . Those all indicate the validity of concerns about the state of our democracy as we begin the 21st century. Why has thisour democracy as wee decline occurred . We are not alone. There has been a Global Movement away from democracy and towards authoritarianism. Countries we used to think of as having moved past being emerging democracies to being mature democracies, such as turkey, have now slipped back to declin . Authoritarian rule. I think we in america are legitimately concerned as to whether we may be on a similar path. Why is this happening . I think one of the reasons the students in tallahassee today are living, is the question of, can democracy respond to the challenges of the day . We face this challenge throughout our history. There have been times when, we have questioned whether the product democratic processes were capable of bringing solutions to complex problems. In most of those instances, democracy has met the challenge. Today, it is being challenged again. I think the students are asking the question, can something as fundamental as providing safety for young people in their educational settings be assured . Is a challenge for Democratic Institutions to be able to effectively answer . We await the determination as to whether that in fact occurs. I think one of the fundamental reasons we have reached this low state is the very fact we stopped teaching civics in the 1970s. Why did we do that . Well, some of the scholars of democracy have attributed it to the fact that in that time, there was an increasing polarization in america, with the far left, thinking that Civics Education was being used to militarize students so they would be more accepting of the vietnam war. People on the far right, feeling that Civic Education was being used to motivate students to engage in activities such as the civil rights movement, womens right movement, other forms of public display which they found to be offensive. There was one thing left could there was one thing the extreme right and the extreme left could agree on, civics was not a good idea. They began leading an effort, first at the local level, then at state level, to eliminate civics. I graduated from miami Senior High School in 1955. I had taken three, one year courses in civics between the 7th and 12th grade. That was not unusual. That was in fact the national standard. I have 11 grandchildren. Nine of whom have graduated from high school. Most of those nine students have had no civics. The most any of them have had is one semester. That is what has happened in two generations of an american family. That is what has happened in two what do we do to begin to reverse this decline . Let me share a personal story. In 1973, i was chairman of the Florida State Senate Education committee. We were holding our hearings before the legislative session in schools around florida and on this particular day, we were at wolfson high school. A middleclass, high school in jacksonville, florida. We had a slot in the agenda for students to come and talk about their concerns. On this particular day at wilson, there were a large number of students, all who had the same issue. Probably one of the most longstanding issues in american Public Education bad food in the cafeteria. I was not surprised that the food was bad. It wasnt great at miami high. I was surprised they had come to the state senate to talk about cold pizza. I asked, were we the first people they talk to . They said no, you are the third. That made me feel better until i asked, who were one and two . Number one was the mayor of jacksonville. Who empathized with the students, but said, it was not his responsibility. The second was the sheriff of duval county, who said the food was no doubt bad, but it was not criminal, it was not his responsibility. [laughter] we were number three. I told that story a few weeks later when i spoke to a group of civics teachers in miami, that something was wrong if a group of bright High School Students, criminal, it was not his responsibility. [laughter] we were number three. I told that story a few weeks many of them about to graduate, had come to the conclusion that the mayor, the sheriff or the state legislature was the place you went for bad food. One of the teachers stood up and said, i am sick to death, sick to death of you politicians telling teachers how to do our work better when you dont know what in the hell youre talking about. The only way you can find out is to actually go in the classroom and experience what it is like to be around in different students. To be around parents who wont show up for a parentteacher conference. An overly bureaucratic school administration, and all those damn laws you legislators passed that we have to live by. She said the only way you can find out is to actually come in the classroom. I accepted her challenge, thinking that she had in mind a couple of hours on tuesday afternoon. When she called back, she had a somewhat different idea. She said, bob, come to carol city Senior High School, almost almost innercity high school in miami. On the day after labor day at 8 00 in the morning, report to room 208 and you will be teaching 12th grade american civics for the next 18 weeks. [laughter] that was a little more than i had quite bargained for. I figured, i had committed myself, i was going to do it. I needed help. I found a young social Science Teacher in carol city who shared my ideas about how civics ought to be taught. He agreed to coteach the class. We spent the summer building a some are working on a curriculum. The curriculum was built around the question, what does a citizen need to know to make democracy work for them . That is the course that we taught for 18 weeks. He agreed to coteach the class it became a life transforming event. I not only learned a lot about life in a modern american high school, i learned a lot about learning. The difference between learning by actually doing something as opposed to learning by lecture or textbook. I also learned some of that was transportable to other areas. I started taking workdays, the one in carol city was number one. I did another 407 over the next 30 years in order to feel that i had a connectedness and understanding with the people of my state. 30 years later, as i retired from the u. S. Senate, i was a senior fellow at the Kennedy School. I taught, as every fellow is required to do, although at harvard, you dont teach unless you are a member of the faculty, you can lead, direct, whatever verb you want to use, but you cannot teach. I did one of those things, using a modified version of the same curriculum, what every citizen needs to know. That course, i found, the harvard undergraduates of the early part of this century were only mildly more cynically illiterate than the High School Students i had taught 30 years earlier. Some of the faculty at the Kennedy School monitor the course and recommended i try to put the curriculum into book form. The result of that was a book called, america the owners manual. You can fight city hall and win. The book is based around the 10 competencies of effective citizenship. Following the harvard model, each chapter begins with a case study of how citizens used that particular competence to achieve their objective. It describes how you can master that skill. I hope those are some of the things students from stoneman it describes how you can master douglas are doing that today in tallahassee. I believe from that experience, not only is it critical to return civics to the classroom, but it is also critical that it be returned in the right form. Most of what is now civics is based on a study of the institutions and processes of government. I remember one of the things i had to do in one of those one year courses was memorize the state capitals of all 50 states. I still remember to this day the capital of south dakota is minneapolis. [laughter] senator graham i personally think jefferson would have been very disturbed with this. In his early writings on the importance of Public Education, to a new democracy, jefferson said, a primary goal of our schools should be to give to every citizen, i emphasize the word every. He was very critical that civics was for an elite few, that every citizen should be given the information needed to understand his duties to his neighbors and his country. And to discharge with competence. Believece is a word i is inadequately emphasized in most civics instruction. To discharge with competence, confided to him by either. That is what i think should be the purpose of a Civics Education. What does that convert to . That converts to issues of skills, are we preparing students with the skills that would allow them to first, discern that there is a problem . Or a missed opportunity . Then, to exercise a series of competencies necessary for overcoming the problem or a choosing the missed opportunity. I also believe civics is like a Musical Instrument or sport. You dont learn to play the piano by reading a textbook about the piano. You learn to play the piano by playing the piano. You learn civics by actually engaging. In that course i referred to at carol city, the first day we organized the students into groups of three, so that they would begin to learn some of the principles of small group interaction. Topic that was of concern to them. Topic that wasf concern to them. Any topic that they wanted. Human rights in china but they had this constraint one third of the final grade was going to be based on what they were able to do about the problem. Were they able to move the needle over the 18 weeks . That got them focused on things that were closer to home. As an example, carol city had a private water and Sewer Company , and there had been a long time feeling that the water that the company was providing to its customers was below grade. A group of three students wanted to take on that issue. Was it below grade . The first thing they did was they went to the Chemistry Department of carol city. They learned the standards you have to utilize if you are going to challenge a product, in this case, water, as to its cleanliness and efficacy. Civics does not occur in a vacuum. It almost always requires knowledge of other topics in order to be effective. With that understanding, they collected dozens of bottles of water according to the scientific standards. They then had to find out, who was the decisionmak