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American Students Are Increasingly Ignorant of American Civics. These Donors Are Working to Restore Appreciation for Our Founding Principles

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American Students Are Increasingly Ignorant of American Civics. These Donors Are Working to Restore Appreciation for Our Founding Principles LESSONS IN American students are increasingly ignorant of American civics. These donors are working to restore appreciation for our founding principles. By Naomi Schaefer Riley e can live without learning French or the institute’s extensive collection of original his - Wbeing great in chemistry,” posits torical documents to develop students’ critical “ James Basker. “But how can you be thinking and analytical skills. an American citizen without knowing American Thanks to the support of the Altman Foun - history?” dation, among others, a pilot of the program has Basker, who is the president of the Gilder already been implemented with 50 teachers in Lehrman Institute, is hardly new to the field of Catholic schools in New York City. Starting this civic education. He has been in his position for summer it will be integrated into the institute’s 40 16 years, overseeing the institute’s initiatives to summer teacher seminars, which reach 1,200 increase knowledge of American history. But he teachers annually. Meanwhile, the Lynde and believes there is a new opportunity now with Harry Bradley Foundation is supporting a pilot the recent adoption of the Common Core stan - program in Milwaukee. dards by 46 states. Mind you, the standards The national rollout of Teaching Literacy themselves say nothing about history. through History is fast, taking advantage of In fact, Basker and others worry that if Gilder Lehrman’s carefully cultivated network schools are only tested on literacy and math, of more than 20,000 social-studies teachers who then the teaching of history will recede even fur - have attended its seminars. The curriculum was ther. But Gilder Lehrman is adapting to the new developed by Tim Bailey, the 2009 “History standards. It has developed Teaching Literacy Teacher of the Year,” and Basker expects results through History, for instance, a program that to be measurable immediately—as soon as the aims to help schools fulfill the standards by using scores from this year’s New York State Regents exams are released in a few months. “Education Naomi Schaefer Riley , a former editor at the Wall reform can be so ponderous,” says Basker. But the Street Journal , is the author of, most recently, ’ Til Faith “dearth of civic education is an urgent problem. Do Us Part: How Interfaith Marriage Is Transforming If we can do this now—this month—it’s just too America . important to wait.” Philanthropy • Spring 2013 45 LESSONS IN CITIZENSHIP and pay-for-performance are “valuable goals.” But, he adds, “unless we also improve the capabilities of educators to teach civics, we won’t succeed.” Since 1999, Koch has been a lead funder of the Bill of Rights Institute (BRI), which has tried a number of approaches to educate young people about the Constitution. These include running essay contests, offering seminars for secondary-school teachers, and distributing instructional materials in classrooms. Now BRI is trying to take advantage of legislative developments to push a particular under - standing of civics back into the classroom. One BRI project is a full-semester, online course on America’s founding principles. The course includes primary source analysis of our founding documents and interactive components. For example, students viewing a street scene can identify how the scene might change if certain constitutional rights were infringed. With this cur - riculum, BRI has been named a preferred provider of the newly mandated founding-principles course in North Carolina’s public schools, which will enable BRI to reach 75,000 high-school seniors annually. The course may also be adopted in other states that are considering a required course on America’s founding principles. The second project, funded by an $800,000 grant from the John Templeton Foundation, is a separate civics and economics textbook. Tony Woodlief, BRI’s president, notes that because of how high-school education has evolved, students may take a class in finance or economics and something in government or history—but the two areas are rarely talked about together, “and nei - Lewis Lehrman (left) and Richard Gilder are co-founders of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. ther is grounded in the founding principles of this country.” The goal of this textbook, which is being written now and will be going into distribution in Back to Principles the next two years, “is to show how the Consti - The Common Core state standards are not the tution provides for both civic and economic lib - only new curricular mandates that seem to be erty, and how those two things depend on one leading to civic-education initiatives. North Car - another.” olina recently implemented a law requiring that Daniel Green, a senior program officer at the nation’s founding concepts be taught in high Templeton, says that this textbook fits within the school. Louisiana passed similar legislation, and foundation’s “Freedom and Free Enterprise” area now Texas, Georgia, and Ohio are also consid - of funding. But it also advances other goals of Sir ering it. John Templeton. For instance, Green says, civic For decades, donors have worked in states education “can increase people’s open-minded - across the country to improve the educational ness to new ideas.” BRI hopes to get the textbook system, from vouchers to charter schools to merit in front of one million students using the network pay for teachers. Charles Koch, chairman and of teachers it has already developed over the years. CEO of Koch Industries, says that improving Charles Koch has high hopes for the new education through initiatives like school choice book, especially given the parlous state of Amer - 46 Philanthropy • Spring 2013 Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas greets finalists in the Bill of Rights Institute’s Being an American essay contest. ican high-schoolers’ history performance. high school are when you have young men and (According to the most recent National Assess - women who are mature and smart enough to ment of Educational Progress, only 25 percent of read serious literature—and who are also coming students scored at the “proficient” level in high- of age as citizens,” says Eric Cohen, a philan - school history.) “Ironically, it’s even worse for thropic advisor to New York donor Roger Her - students who have been in school the longest,” tog, who helped fund the work. Koch explains. “Only 12 percent of high school The Kasses’ curricula aim to infuse some new seniors scored at or above proficiency in U.S. his - life into the old standards of high-school educa - tory.” According to the Intercollegiate Studies tion. One element, called “The American Calen - Institute’s 2011 American Civic Literacy Report, dar,” provides reading and discussion ideas for college doesn’t improve things: A bachelor’s American holidays, from Veterans’ Day to Mar - degree had a “negligible” effect on civic literacy tin Luther King Day. By the time students reach and “zero impact” on civic engagement. high school, many teachers have run out of new In many cases, says Woodlief, civic educa - things to say about these occasions and simply tion today is doing more harm than good. pass over them. “Every textbook out there talks about commu - In another section, “The Meaning of Amer - nity service,” he explains. “The bestselling one ica,” students are assigned a short story paired says that you should get involved because the with a founding document. For instance, in a government can’t solve every problem. We say discussion about Jack London’s “To Build a you should care for your neighbors because the Fire”—that old staple of high-school English— government shouldn’t be involved in solving students learn not just that the story is an exam - every problem.” ple of naturalism in American literature. They are also taught to ask questions about “the strengths Bringing the American Experiment to and weaknesses of American individualism,” Life according to Cheryl Miller, who administers the Another new civic-education curriculum for sec - program at AEI. As part of a segment on the ondary-school students (actually, three separate American character, students also explore “what curricula) is What So Proudly We Hail. It was kind of citizens are likely to emerge in a nation designed by former University of Chicago teach - founded on equality, individual rights, commer - ers Leon and Amy Kass, who are now fellows at cial enterprise, and freedom of religion.” the American Enterprise Institute and the Hud - For each portion of the curricula, the Kasses son Institute, respectively. “The last two years of are preparing a 45-minute video. Experienced Philanthropy • Spring 2013 47 LESSONS IN CITIZENSHIP Amy and Leon Kass’ What So Proudly We Hail curricula infuses new life into old standards of high-school readings. media personalities like Bill Kristol and David “It’s a long-standing problem,” says Bruce Brooks play, as Cohen puts it, the part of Char - Cole, the former chairman of the National lie Rose—“and Leon and Amy are the guests.” Endowment for the Humanities from 2001 to Teachers can access the texts, videos, and a cur - 2009. Cole, who is convening a conference on riculum guide online. civic education for the Ethics and Public Policy With a two-year grant of $222,000, Hertog Center next year, says that “during the ’60s and provided the seed capital. “We invested in prod - ’70s there was increasing skepticism about the uct development,” explains Cohen. Hertog also validity of the American enterprise.” That, com - offered a matching grant to aid in the distribu - bined with “political correctness and a general tion of the curricula. First, though, the princi - watering down of curriculum,” has produced a pals wanted to make sure they had a good prod - sad state of affairs.
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