Mandatory learning about history racism and its effects. What happened to blacks who tried to buy homes after serving in WW2 , for instance,
I had to take civics in high school. I learned so much about laws and government, all stuff that hadn't been covered in history. I learned about dealing with cops in driver's ed, but it wasn't enough.
I agree civics should be required.
Wishful thinking that any topics like these will be taught in public high schools coast to coast. Private and charter schools-- yes, the curriculum is more flexible, and the boards of parents and school boards are more open minded at the high school level.
Increasingly, these types of topics, are being moved to colleges for discussion and study. They are simply too controversial to be taught at the high school level-- who writes a curriculum? Who approves the curriculum? What do you do when there are disagreements over what is taught? How do you monitor what the teacher is teaching? How do you measure the outcomes? How to make the curriculum not slanted toward one political or social ideology or another is challenging, if not impossible. So they have just systematically taken all of this kind of teaching out of "civics" classes, and substituted "history" and "social studies" content-- greatly watered down, with no opportunity for real discussions, and highly scripted curriculum that will more easily pass scrutiny without conflict.
This is why we have hoards of high school students graduating without having a basic understanding of things like how to vote in local, state, and national elections, or what the electoral college is, or how the primary system works in their state. (IMO, this is PART OF why young people gravitate toward the un-peaceful protest movements-- it's quicker and easier to protest something/ riot/ disrupt something, than to actually work for social justice within the law.)
Our oldest was not permitted to discuss the process of how the presidential election worked while in public high school the last presidential cycle. Our middle child is now in a specialty charter school, and I see an enormous difference in what can be taught and discussed at school, related to social topics, comparative religions, and "social justice" issues.
Public schools largely believe that these topics should be taught "at home", or at least outside of the school day. Teachers are given strategies to re-direct questions from students about topics that can't be discussed. At least that's true in my part of the country-- and we have a large number of K-12 teachers and university professors in our family and extended family.
So I think it's folly to think that in the current climate, that things like "how to properly, politely, and successfully interact with a policeman" will ever be taught in schools. Acting out is becoming the norm-- to behave in a socially appropriate way is "weak"-- kids see this on television and the internet everywhere. The ones who misbehave and break laws the worst get the most attention and coverage. Better yet, now they have "a cause" and are "oppressed". It's "cool" to physically attack and denigrate law enforcement, and go out of your way to be rude and disrespectful to them-- and then film it and post it on the web. That's how far we've come. No civics class can "fix" all that is wrong with that, IMO.
The thoughtful list posted yesterday on this thread of ways to prevent police from behaving improperly is now very long. Body cams are only one small and very complex aspect of the solution. Body cams don't address attitudes. I think we can agree that many other points on the list do address attitudes and deserve discussion too if there is interest on this thread in considering solutions. Of course, it's possible that criticism is more interesting and if so, I'm disappointed but I stand corrected.
