Action Civics — A Love Story
I first fell in love with Action Civics 25 years ago through a tragedy. A student of mine was shot and nearly killed in a gang shooting when I was in my first year leading a small alternative school in Chicago, Association House High School. The shooting happened on the weekend, and the following Monday the students were a mess — their attention and emotions focused solely on their worry for their classmate.
My fellow teachers and I decided to stop regular classes and instead opened a discussion centered on students’ thoughts and feelings about the incident. Then, we facilitated an exploration of what the root causes of this shooting were and posed the question of why gang violence was so high in certain communities in Chicago. The students continued all week on this issue, researching patterns in Chicago violence, mapping local political structures, and brainstorming solutions to the problem. The project culminated with a meeting with their congressman and students advocating for more after-school recreation centers.
This Action Civics project boosted students' and the teachers’ spirits, and it turned our pain into purpose.
This was an ‘aha’ moment for me as an educator. I saw students more engaged and focused than I had seen all year. (These were kids who had not experienced much success in school). The project also had fostered a range of academic skills and civic knowledge. Most importantly, it gave these teenagers — who often felt powerless — a sense that they had agency to improve their city.
Birth of Action Civics — Reenergizing the Dying Field of Civics
The term Action Civics did not exist 25 years ago, so back in 1996, this was simply teachers doing what teachers do — trying to connect, engage and support their students. Ten years later, with help from colleagues at the Mikva Challenge, I came up with the term Action Civics. Our motivation was that the field of civic education desperately needed a rebrand along with more innovative teaching strategies that deeply engaged students. Social Studies instruction had been cut by over 40% in elementary schools due to the No Child Left Behind Act’s focus on Math and Reading, and only a handful of states required the teaching of Civics in high school. Back in 2006, Civics was a long way from the front pages; it was purposely ignored and quickly disappearing from American schools.
The rebranding effort launched at a breakfast presentation to a small group of foundation officers in the winter of 2007, and immediately it was a hit. The term helped frame the issues of civic learning in a more dynamic light. It was not simply the teaching of how a bill becomes a law. It was a catalytic tool for youth development and civic engagement. At Mikva, we finally felt that our marketing approach was catching up to the powerful impact we saw every day in our programs.
Building a Movement for Action Civics
This organizational rebrand led to a national group of Action Civics educators and academics creating the National Action Civics Collaborative (NACC) in 2009. Over the past dozen years, NACC leaders have pushed to bring Action Civics instruction to schools across the country. It’s now in 20+ states. In addition, NACC members know the field is larger than Action Civics and have helped pass legislation supporting all forms of civics instruction throughout K-12 schools, for example through the work of the CivXNow Coalition.
While Action Civics is just one instructional tool, it’s the one nearest to my heart. I am continually amazed at its ability to improve kids’ lives in the short term — emotionally and academically, and in the long term — professionally and civically. Students in Action Civics programs are more than twice as likely to vote, volunteer in the community, run for office, and advocate for issues than their peers who never experience this form of learning.
The Current Attack on Action Civics is Off-Base
Unfortunately, Action Civics is under a full-scale attack today. Commentators such as Stanley Kurtz at the National Review and the advocacy groups like the National Association of Scholars have pushed a narrative that Action Civics is “left-wing indoctrination” and “activist civics”. Their fact-challenged, fear-mongering has prompted several states to introduce legislation banning Action Civics instruction. Sadly, their arguments fail to explore how Action Civics instruction truly works, its positive impacts, and why nonpartisanship is fundamental to its approach. To illustrate, below are five examples of Action Civics projects I observed over the past two decades.
1) Students discuss why attendance at their school is lower at the end of the week than on Monday. In interviews with peers, students discover that many students do not have laundry machines at home and cannot get their uniforms cleaned during the week. The students advocate for the school to purchase washers and dryers so students can get their uniforms laundered at school.
2) Students notice water leaking from their roof into multiple classrooms and that the temperature swings wildly from sweltering to frigid in different areas of the school. They research the budgeting process in their district and put together a presentation for the school board on the need for funds to repair their hundred-year-old building.
3) Students face the challenge of getting home safely each day as the main bus stop sits next to a park where gang members congregate. Students investigate how the transit agency makes decisions and organize a presentation to move the bus stop to an area next to their school.
4) Students observe that many freshmen are unprepared academically for high school. The students create a tutoring program at the local middle school to help students who are struggling.
5) An autistic student shares his challenges with being bullied in school with classmates, and the students choose to address anti-bullying in their Action Civics project. They research how to create Upstander workshops, and they present this training to their fellow students.
These projects are not outliers. Student projects always address problems kids are facing in their lives. Young people I have worked with are not very ideological in their approach. They don’t think like Beltway pundits. They are natural problem solvers who simply want to see their schools and communities improve.
Nonpartisanship is Fundamental to Action Civics
I have supported thousands of Action Civics projects and speeches. I have traveled with students to Iowa every four years to campaign for Republican and Democratic candidates for President. I have personally chaperoned students on the Bush, McCain, Romney, Cruz, Giuliani, Perry, Gingrich, and Paul campaigns. And I have helped thousands of students serve as poll workers in elections helping improve the performance of local elections. (Teenagers are far better than adults at managing the voting machines.)
The number one impact of all this work has nothing to do with partisanship. Young people who have the chance to participate in our democracy, awaken to their own civic roles and responsibilities, and come to believe in their ability to be a leader in the community.
Why are the critics of Action Civics mischaracterizing the nature of Action Civics? I believe it’s an opportunity to score some political points and show their conservative supporters they are fighting against “lefty” educators. Ironically, Action Civics is a pedagogy aligned as much with entrepreneurial, self-help, Libertarian values as progressive equity and justice beliefs. What is more American than wanting to pitch in and work with neighbors to solve community problems?
The Inclusive Power of Action Civics
The critics say they would like Civics to be taught with a focus simply on the Constitution, the three branches of government, and the laws guiding our civic life. This approach ignores the reality that students are not born with the skills needed to participate in our democracy and many lack confidence in the American system of government. By inviting students to become actors — not just observers — in the democratic process, students develop skills and a positive connection to this system of government.
And for educators and students in under-resourced communities, Civics is not just an abstract topic. Healthy civic institutions — schools, nonprofits, police — are often the difference between success and failure in life (and sometimes life and death). Action Civics simply gives young people a toolkit and the confidence to participate in this experiment of self-governance and to hold their government leaders accountable. That is the essence of democratic citizenship.
Time for Action Civics Champions to Stand Up
Now is not the time to be timid. Educators and champions of Action Civics need to elevate their voices and tell their impact stories in the media, to school boards, and to parents. Otherwise, a small band of ideologues, who work far away from the day-to-day reality of K-12 classrooms, will succeed in their efforts to banish a transformative instructional approach that improves our kids and communities. Our goal should not just be to defend our position. We should loudly and proudly advocate for Action Civics to become integrated into civics instruction in schools across the nation.
