Review of National Standards for Civics and Government

Abstract

Political Scientists Examine Civics Standards cation," not civic or citizenship education. The 1971 report of the Committee on Pre-Collegiate Education criticized the lack of connection and communication between precollege educators and political science faculty and the content of instruction about politics and government in elementary and secondary schools. Precollege courses were faulted for their lack of realism and comparative perspective on U.S. politics, for too much emphasis on institutions and legal aspects of government, and for a reliance on memorization and rote learning. The Committee identified eight objectives for precollegiate political science education: References

Young Americans' Indifference to Media Coverage of Public Affairs

“…If so, we would be well advised to take immediate steps to rectify the situation. A good place to begin is with civics education in the schools (Dry 1996;Hibbing and Theiss-Morse 1996;Mann 1996;Merelman 1996). Still, enhancing civics education must be part of a multifaceted effort (Bennett 1997).…”

Civic Education by Mandate: A State-by-State Analysis

“…Some efforts are underway to change this state of affairs. National standards for civic education from K-12 have been developed and critiqued (Dry 1996;Merelman 1996). A movement to incorporate "service learning" to promote good citizenship is growing nationwide (see for example, Battistoni and Hudson 1997; the September 2000 issue of PS).…”