Imagine for a minute that our country was filled with people who went their entire lives without knowing how their own government operated. During each election cycle, voters made up their minds based upon 30-second sound bites on TV that promised grandiose ideas and mudslinging their opponents. High school students learn about history, but not about how to register to vote.
Unfortunately, you don’t have to imagine this scenario because it’s already a sad reality.
The LePage Administration recently signed LD 1211, “An Act To Require That a Student Satisfactorily Complete a Course in Civics and Government to Receive a High School Diploma.” Rep. Mary Nelson of Falmouth sponsored this piece of legislation, which is now law. While critics cite problems with such an educational mandate, this is something that should have been a no-brainer from day one.
To date myself, I graduated high school at Thornton Academy in 2009 without any civics requirement. I did, however, take a political science course due to my high level of interest in the subject as a senior. It was not mandatory for students to take, and as a result only about 40 students out of a class of approximately 350 took the class.
This meant more than 300 young people were going out into the real world without a solid foundation in how a bill is passed, and more importantly, how politics can affect every single aspect of our lives. These 300 plus graduating seniors would go on to represent the majority of Americans who feel a similar disinterest and disconnect in our political system and with government functions.
When young people turn the magic number of 18 to become legal voting citizens, there isn’t a manual of life. How is one supposed to automatically know about our government and political process, not to mention how to register to vote?
I knew at this point that civics education needed to be a top priority for the sanctity of a surviving democracy. It wasn’t about Democrats or Republicans; it was about doing what is right for the future generation ”“ my generation.
It just so happened I had been appointed to serve on the State Board of Education by then-Gov. John Baldacci. Here was the opening; the opportunity to let the flow of information trickle to the people with the power to make a difference. But, alas, the political beings at work fought to keep the status quo over creating the kind of positive change students needed.
Instead of incorporating my plea for mandatory civics education into the new curriculum set to go into place by 2014, this common sense idea fell on deaf ears. The State Board of Education should be the entity spearheading ideas like this to the commissioner of education and subsequently the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee of the Legislature. While it’s not explicitly spelled out in the statute, what little to no power the State Board of Education has should be wielded with more might, or at least the board should take a more active role in educational reforms. Simply listening, without a political filter, to what is happening with students in the classroom could be a start.
No matter how this came to be, the key is now that civics education is mandated. The question now is: How will it be implemented? The fear is that the kind of civics taught throughout schools in Maine will be guided with a heavy hand of political ideology. Given the controversial figure Gov. LePage has become, good or bad, during his tenure, this fear is recognizable. It is reminiscent of the constant debate over national textbook content control by way of Texas’ checkbook.
Local districts should ultimately decide how to best implement civics education at their level with the guidance of the commissioner of education and the State Board of Education. An unbiased, independent source should verify that the content being developed does in fact focus on the full political spectrum and not just through a narrow prism of indoctrination.
— Justin Chenette is a host of Youth in Politics, airing on WPME Sundays at 2 p.m. and WPXT at 8:30 a.m. He is a former member of the Maine State Board of Education, a graduate of Thornton Academy and is currently attending Lyndon State College, majoring in broadcast news. Follow him on Twitter @justinchenette, like him on Facebook.com/JustinChenetteOfficial, or visit his website at justinchenette.com.
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