Civics education has long been neglected in Oklahoma schools to the detriment of our society
Students work on an art project on April 8, 2024. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)
Ever since I was a child, Oklahoma schools have struggled in terms of teaching history and civics.
Even when I was too young to understand what Joseph McCarthy's 'Red Scare' was, I could sense that educators remained intimidated by what I learned was rightwing propaganda. And when I became a teacher at John Marshall High School in the early 1990s, school systems were pressured to use Texas-approved textbooks that were designed to comply with the teach-to-the-test mindset fostered by the Reagan administration's 'A Nation at Risk' campaign.
After the House Bill 1017, known as the Education Reform Act of 1990, however, our teachers saw incremental improvements in teaching and learning – even in government classes. But, the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and the Obama administration's Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 especially undercut civics instruction.
As districts were forced to focus on math and reading test scores, social studies was largely ignored.
Although I was actively involved in resisting data-driven, competition-driven reforms, I must admit that I was too diplomatic when defending civics. I silently worried that our abandonment of social studies could be the most destructive result of corporate school reforms. But I was reluctant to criticize colleagues who gave up on the fight, and I didn't say aloud that our failure to teach government and history could help undermine American democracy.
Today, however, our democracy is clearly in danger. At a time, for instance, when a president claims that he can seek a third term and seems to think he can ignore federal courts, a solid understanding of the Constitution is necessary.
Moreover, today's students are anxious and feel disengaged and powerless in a world challenged by rapid changes in the climate, demography and technology.
Fortunately, Lindsey Cormack's 'How to Raise a Citizen (And Why It's Up to You to Do It)' gives me hope. She offers practical – and bipartisan – approaches for discussing political issues and governmental processes that are very similar to what worked in John Marshall classrooms.
And guess what? Cormack doesn't dump the entire challenge on schools and educators. Cormack builds on the traditions of parents taking on the role of discussing government and politics at the dinner table and encouraging their children to get involved in community and local government activities.
The book reminds me about the ways my high school students, their communities and I taught each other how to actively participate in our democracy. Our academics shifted focus during presidential or mid-term elections, or when state or local politics dominated the headlines, or even when extreme events, like the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, or wars in Iraq and Afghanistan occurred.
When English classes started reading Ralph Ellison's 'The Invisible Man,' I would teach about his experiences growing up in Oklahoma City. The students were especially insightful when guest lecturers visited, and during field trips to places like art museums, the 'Deep Deuce,' where Ellison grew up, and the state Capitol. This was especially true when a veteran of the Sit-In movement joined us in repeated trips to the Capitol. Legislators were always enthralled by the students' wisdom.
Above all, student saw high-level instruction as a sign of respect, and responded by learning in a holistic and meaningful way.
But in recent years, I've seen a shift in how we teach because of corporate school reformers teach-to-the-test mandates.
It was only a few years ago, I was so hopeful that schools, families and communities would come together so we could nurture a commitment to civics education and our 21st century democracy.
Now, I worry that our failures to teach civics and history have helped undermine our society's commitment to political institutions.
I fear lawmakers will be unable to gather the courage to stand up to rightwing attacks on schools by state Superintendent Ryan Walters and his supporters that aim to mandate history standards such as 'identifying discrepancies in the 2020 election,' the 'halting of ballot-counting in select cities,' 'the security risks of mail-in balloting' and 'the unprecedented contradiction of 'bellwether county' trends.'
I'm also concerned that our leaders won't have the gumption to push back against the Trump administration's focus on defunding promising education and nonprofit programs.
Because it will take a village and diverse strategies to build on our communities' strengths and to raise and educate our children.
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Don't let your glee interfere with your loathing. Watching Trump and Musk slug it out on social media is entertaining. But the experience can be so heady that before you know it you've lost your bearings. Wait, what? Elon is going full WWE on Trump? He's calling the one and only piece of legislation that Trump and MAGA have had a shot at passing this year 'a disgusting abomination?' He's saying Trump wouldn't have won the election in 2024 without him? He's making the old man real real mad? Maybe, for one moment, you're starting to see what those five (acknowledged) Musk baby mamas saw in him. Don't fall for it. As Trump noted, Elon was for the budget bill before he was against it. As Trump observed, Elon turned on it when he got pushed out of the White House and saw the tax credits for electric vehicles cut. As Trump observed, it sure sounds like Elon has sour grapes. 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And he's behind a bill that will add over two trillion dollars to the national debt over the next ten years. He's behind a bill that will pay for tax cuts for he and Musk and other billionaires by cutting Medicaid for almost 16 million people. He's the one giving cover to the war crimes of Vladimir Putin and Bibi Netanyahu. He's the one who made the U.S. government one of the world's most corrupt. He's the one who has launched a masked thuggish Gestapo against the American people. He's the one seeking to gut the rule of law in this country. He's the one making the climate crisis worse. He's in a war with science and the truth. These are not monsters from a science fiction movie battling it out to boost summer movie ticket sales. They really are crushing buildings, cars, mass transit systems, cities, and countless innocent people beneath their feet. Yes, it's perversely enjoyable when Musk suggests Trump should be impeached. (He should be.) Or that Trump is probably all over the Epstein files. (Of course he is. Heck, some of the idiot bros who voted for him probably saw that as a sign of Cialis-enhanced mega-tumescent alphaness.) Sure, it's a pleasure to see Trumpworld finally turn on the calculating, supremely weird, tech bro who has named all his kids after his favorite typographical errors. Steve Bannon—who in his sweaty, unshaven slobbery evokes a movie swamp monster himself—is calling for Musk's companies to be taken over by the government and for the South African-born con artist to be deported! How rich! Never mind that we shouldn't use the government to either enforce personal vendettas or to promote personal enrichment of government officials (and their families). This is way better than any of the other reality sleaze on television. For sure Simon Cowell would slap down his buzzer and send these guys to the finals in Las Vegas in which they would face off against other animal acts. But when the social media food fight stops, what will we be left with? Trump will still be standing. So will Musk. As Musk noted, Trump will be around for another three and a half years and the pale, fleshy tower of ketamine himself will likely be around for decades more. That's bad news for us however you slice it. We can't get rid of our worst president in history easily and getting rid of the super-empowered broligarchs who swept him into power will be even harder. Both will be weakened by this. But by how much? Trump's followers have already bought into the presidency of a twice-impeached, insurrectionist, racist, misogynist convicted criminal. He's been insulted by better men than Elmo and survived politically. Musk has lost some of his 'I'm the king of the world' cache. But he's still the richest man in the world and can meddle in our national affairs to his hearts content until his frozen brain is ultimately launched to the storage facility he is preparing for it on Mars. Sadly, as weakened as they may be by this, both monsters will retain a great deal of power. Which is fine in the movie biz when you want sequels. But the sequels to this will very likely lose their appeal quickly. Further, how do you think this makes us look to the world? It is already clear our government is broken. It is already apparent we are circling the drain as a superpower. Do you doubt it? Earlier Thursday Germany's mild-mannered Chancellor Friedrich Merz, became the latest foreign leader (following the equally mild-mannered Mark Carney of Canada) to turn one of Trump's Oval Office ambushes against Trump. He dunked on Trump's defenses of Putin and even pointed out to the befuddled Trump that Germans consider the defeat of Naziism to be a good thing. But although we are clearly weakened today by our internal divisions, splits with our allies, loss of credibility, and betrayal of the values on which we stood for so many years, we can and almost assuredly be weakened further not just by this split but by what it says about America under Trump. And no, I don't just mean it will be confusing for foreign potentates to figure out which of the two guys to pay off to grease the skids for future good relations with the U.S. (Both will figure out a way to cash in.) No, the real damage done by today's fight was not measured by the blows they struck against one another. Rather it was to the country whose flesh they have been tearing at with their vulture politician beaks since January. Trump again degraded the presidency just as he did when he hired Musk. Musk again thought only of himself and his bottom line. Both again looked upon all of us as the kind of collateral damage they could live with if destroying our lives might leave one crypto penny more in their hot crypto wallets. Our institutions emerged weaker, our global standing further diminished, our enemies encouraged by the unending chaos within our government. So, sure, enjoy flabby-old-guy-night at the fights. But don't lose sight of its costs. Yes, laugh at these idiots. But don't forget how dangerous, repulsive and destructive they really are.
