As the amount of rhetoric increases concerning policy responsiveness by government, Louisiana would do well to embrace a growing sentiment that emphasizes civic literacy to address this.
Several other states are
considering either
increasing secondary and/or college requirements regarding basic knowledge
about American government or requiring
high school students for their diploma to pass tests based upon the citizenship
test for naturalized citizens, or both. Interestingly, education in civics
has declined in the past decade because of the implementation of No Child Left
Behind education standards that emphasized science and language content.
Testing of high school and college graduates on the subject of how their
government formed, works, and basic facts about it and the political figures
part of it often show discouraging
levels of knowledge overall.
By increasing this knowledge, even
if it’s just elementary facts based upon historical and current events, it’s
argued that this increases awareness about the political world that spurs
participation and reasoned deliberation in it. Political scientists long have
noted that the more familiar that people are with the political world, the less
intimidated they feel in trying to understand and participate in it; people shy
away from engaging in an activity if they do not understand it and/or do not
feel competence in trying to interact with it. Presumably increased efficacy on
these attitudes would spur more people into voting, spending more time
considering their vote, become more active through other modes in political
participation, and might trigger discussion of politics more with others,
perhaps encouraging them to increase their attentiveness to and participation
in politics as well.
Among the states,
in the aggregate presently Louisiana in terms of what it requires in elementary
and secondary education pretty much is typical. At this level, to graduate with
a regular diploma a student must complete a half-year of civics; if wishing to qualify for
the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students Award, an additional half of a
year in that or in a free enterprise class must be completed. At the college
level, the general educational requirement (the outline mandated by the state
but left up to individual institutions to define) that all students wishing to
be conferred a degree must fulfill has as an option taking American Government
for all schools that teach it, but none of these schools requires that course,
and such are the options available that no students get forced into having that
class.
Some states go much further. For
example, nine states and the District of Columbia require a graduate exit exam
over civics; Louisiana does not (although it can fold some of those kinds of questions
into other areas). The California State University System, in which Louisiana
State University System President and Chancellor F. King
Alexander served previously to his current job, requires a government
course of all of its graduates.
In recent years, the Legislature
has seen no significant attempt made to enlarge instructional requirements in
this way. The state does have a Commission
on Civic Education, which collaborates with a Louisiana
State Bar Association auxiliary the Louisiana
Center for Law and Civics Education that does provide some opportunities
outside the formal education process for increasing interest in the workings of
government, but no real study nor effort has been made by this state agency to
ponder this issue.
Perhaps the time has come for an
investigation of this nature, by any or all of this body, the Legislature, the Board of Elementary
and Secondary Education, and/or the Board of
Regents. At the very least, Louisiana could emulate the other few states
that require passing an exit exam specifically in this area to encourage
greater civic literacy, and investigations could be made about the cost of
increasing the levels of instruction at both this level and the college, as
this would require reallocating resources to cover the additional coursework.
After this past election season,
media outlets typically bemoaned this latest round of choosing leaders, concerned
about its relatively low voting turnout, particularly among the younger, and,
to a lesser degree, the simplistic quality of candidate advertising, designed
to appeal to a lowest common denominator of political literacy. This kind of
civic education represents one way to turn these set of complaints into action.
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