Bringing civics back – a modern approach to history

“We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.”
~ Thomas Jefferson (Information on this quotation)

Let’s face it – there are two basic reasons we send our kids to school: so they can learn the skills they need to get a decent job, and to gain the knowledge they need to be informed, involved citizens.

Unfortunately, in the scramble to teach our kids everything they need to know to get a good-paying job, we’ve lost focus of our equally important responsibility to teach them everything they need to know to be an informed, active citizen.

With voter participation declining and studies showing that kids can’t recite the ten amendments in our Bill of Rights or name key leaders in our state government, it’s clear that we’re selling our kids short. We’re failing to teach our kids the knowledge that will empower them to protect and participate in our democracy.

This is why I’m proposing we level the playing field between civics education and other high school requirements.

Currently, high school students are required to take a half-credit of Washington State History in order to graduate. History is important, but we’re finding that students and teachers are ready and willing to incorporate more content into the class.

House Bill 2781 will modernize our history class curriculum so we can cover more in the same amount of time. The curriculum would consist of four parts:

• Washington history and culture
   
• State Constitution and state politics
   
• Washington geography
   
• Commerce in Washington and its place in the global economy

I think there’s value in making sure our kids know where we’ve been as a state, where we are today, and their role in determining where we go in the future.