Civics at 250: Teaching Democracy in an Unfinished Nation

As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Lecturer Eric Soto-Shed argues that this historic milestone is more than a celebration but really an opportunity to rethink how we teach civics.

Soto-Shed explains how the Declaration is typically taught in K–12 classrooms, as both a foundational values document and a pivotal historical text, and why educators must grapple with its tensions and contradictions alongside its democratic ideals. 

“Democracies are something that need to be curated, nurtured, cultivated, cared for. And so, as we are approaching the 250th — or at the 250th — it's a real opportunity to return to those values and just look at to what extent are they playing out and to what extent are they being challenged and how can we really bring the vision to bear in today's context,” he says. “But also, to recognize that any document or any sort of thing, person, event, movement, has flaws, right? On one hand, we teach it as this real powerful articulation of democratic principles and values. It also has embedded in it some of the inconsistencies, some of the lack of inclusion or oppressive elements.”

While civics education often encompasses many different subjects and can emphasize memorization, Soto-Shed explores the current landscape of civics education, including patriotic education initiatives, critical approaches to United States history, action civics requirements, media literacy, and the concept of “reflective patriotism.” 

“There's also a lot we need to teach,” he says. “So how do we strategically create those learning experiences that work in concert with all the things going on in schooling to really give a pronounced focus in a civics class on some aspects of civic education and then recognize that it's really an endeavor that's being taken up across grade and across subjects and do that well and coordinated. It could be really powerful.”

In this episode, the Harvard EdCast explores how to prepare students to not just understand democracy but to participate and strengthen it. 

Transcript

JILL ANDERSON: I'm Jill Anderson. This is The Harvard EdCast. At a time when democracy feels deeply strained, Eric Soto-Shed sees an opportunity for renewal. He argues that this moment calls for a different kind of civics education, one that helps students wrestle with democratic ideals, ask hard questions, and see themselves as participants in an unfinished project. Eric is a Harvard lecturer who co-leads the Civics Thinking Project, a research initiative focused on strengthening civics curriculum and instruction. As the U.S. approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I wanted to understand how this historic moment can shape the way we teach civics and prepare students not just to understand democracy, but to actively sustain and improve it. I asked Eric how we usually introduce this history in the classroom.

ERIC SOTO-SHED: When we look at the K-to-12 perspective in teaching Declaration of Independence, I think that you're going to see it come up in two different ways. One as a document around values, and so it's a document that really articulates the values of the nation, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That offers a few different entry points, and most notably you would see it in civics classes or government classes, so in Massachusetts, that's a middle school and high school, and many states that might just be in high school, but you'll see it as a document that articulates a philosophy and a vision. The second place that you're going to see it is this fundamental historical document, the breaking away from England by the 13 colonies. So this you'll see squarely in your United States history classes as a real sort of key pivotal moment in the history of the nation.

If you want to go concretely, like in Massachusetts, for example, in the third grade, we look at the role of the ideas around justice and the values of the declaration. In fifth grade, it's much more of a US history class, as well as in high school. And that's where we're looking at more as this historical document. And then eighth grade and our high school civic classes where we're returning to it with a deeper analysis around principles. So it comes up in some different ways throughout multiple grades. Nationwide in elementary school, oftentimes more is for the ideas and then the high school more for deeper ideas and some of the historical context.

JILL ANDERSON: So as we approach this 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, how should educators think about teaching this document today?

ERIC SOTO-SHED: One is to double down and return to the values around liberty and freedom and equality. It's a short part, but a really important and profound and deep one. Democracies are something that need to be curated, nurtured, cultivated, cared for. And so as we are approaching the 250th or at the 250th, it's a real opportunity to return to those values and just look at to what extent are they playing out and to what extent are they being challenged and how can we really bring the vision to bear in today's context? But also to recognize that any document or any sort of thing, person, event, movement, has flaws, right? On one hand, we teach it as this real powerful articulation of democratic principles and values. It also has embedded in it some of the inconsistencies, some of the lack of inclusion or oppressive elements. What we think about the Declaration of Independence, we also talk about the self-evident truths.

That's a couple paragraphs of the opening, right? Then the document goes on to have a list of grievances against the Kingdom of England. And some of them might make sense and really resonate with what we learned in history. So for imposing taxes without our consent, for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us. But the final grievance, I think really kind of lists up some inherent contradictions and challenges in our quest for freedom and our vision of freedom that's articulated in this document. So I'll read this final grievance that's stated. "He has excited domestic insurrection among us and is endeavored to bring the inhabitants of our frontier, the merciless Indian savages whose known rule of warfare is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions." And so we see here the explicit calling out of engaging or exciting insurrection from Indian "savages" but also this idea of domestic insurrection.

The Declaration of Independence really is complaining about the King of England offering freedom to enslave people that joined the British against the colonists who were rebelling. And from a tactic standpoint, it makes a ton of sense. When we talk about freedom, we were kind of lifting up the idea that there were people in this country that were enslaved, the king was offering them freedom. And now we're complaining about that in our own request or statement or declaration of the demand for freedom for ourselves. And so I think at this moment and in any moment, it is unbelievably important to look at what's so right, what's so brilliant, what's so wise, what's so virtuous about the Declaration of Independence, but also put a mirror up to its laws because that's the sort of world we're in now, that's the world we'll be in where these things are in tension and these things are in coexistence. And so I think the declaration is a great way to sort of get into both the things that we are getting right and the things that we need to work on.

JILL ANDERSON: You do a lot of work with teachers and with schools. How is civics actually being taught today? We are hearing a lot about this push towards patriotic lens.

ERIC SOTO-SHED: I think if you look at the broad landscape of the nation, I think you're going to see just a variety of different approaches. But when you look at sort of individual schools and states, there tends to be particular focuses that I think in general we want to push to a more holistic approach. So let me tell you some of the trends that I think are out there. So you've already named the push towards patriotic education, there's national legislation, there's some state legislation that's pushing that. In some way, shape or form, some sort of patriotic education is really valuable. Another trend that we've seen for a number of years that I think is coming somewhat under attack, but I think is still quite prevalent, is a much more critical view of the United States, of our government, of our history. You can see that captured in a lot of different courses that teachers are doing.

And then I think there are a lot of things that are in between. There's a big push around media literacy as being a big civic skill. The Digital Inquiry Group has a great civics online reasoning curriculum, which is really kind of positioning the ability to sift through information and evaluate information that you're finding online. I think that's a really important thing. One thing where I think Massachusetts is leading the way is the idea of action civics and the idea that you are taking what you're learning and doing projects. So it's a graduation requirement in the state of Massachusetts that students have to do some sort of action civics projects and apply what they've learned. Another one that's the recent Nate data around declining scores and civic education, it's around getting back to the basics, the nuts and bolts, checks and balances, structures of government, how do they work?

There is a framework from one of my colleagues, Danielle Allen, and a group that she worked with around educating American democracy that talks about critical patriotism or reflective patriotism. And I think that's a profound principle that can bridge together a lot of different things in terms of thinking about how can we look at civics as a way of both understanding and really cherishing some of the aspects of our democracy or also being critical of it.

JILL ANDERSON: I mean, that encompasses a lot. As I was listening to you talk, I thought, geez, it's a lot to get through. It's a lot to pack in to a course. And I know you're not doing it all in the same year of school, but it just sounds like a lot to do.

ERIC SOTO-SHED: Absolutely. Can I ask you a question? What is the purpose of schooling in general?

JILL ANDERSON: I've had folks on the show who talk about this idea that we want to create citizens who understand and participate in democracy. And I would agree with that. However, I also feel like the purpose of schooling is very holistic. I think it goes beyond just that, but just creating well-rounded, educated, empathetic people who know how to do math and can write a sentence with proper grammar, but also to help recognize who you are as a person, which I guess can fall under civics, right?

ERIC SOTO-SHED: 100%. So I think you're like A+, you kind of got two great different visions there, but when we think both about preparing citizens or preparing our community members, as well as this idea of the more holistic education, I think it lifts up both an opportunity and challenge because on one hand, you can look at the entire role, the function of schooling, K-to-12, marshaling all the subjects and all the six hours a day for 13 years is to do this work of civics, right? Prepare folks to go out and be engaged community members. And so whether you're reading some literature and reflecting on values in your English language arts class, if you're learning about the environment in your science class or if you're learning to think through, shift through data and numbers in your math class, all of that is being marshaled or could be marshaled towards the work of civic ends, right?

At the same time, there are some discreet ways we want to think about civics and there's some discreet opportunities we have in our curriculum. And so I think one of the challenges and opportunities to say that there's a lot of space for this to happen, but there's also a lot we need to teach. So how do we strategically create those learning experiences that work in concert with all the things going on in schooling to really give a pronounced focus in a civics class on some aspects of civic education and then recognize that it's really an endeavor that's being taken up across grade and across subjects and do that well and coordinated. It could be really powerful.

JILL ANDERSON: There's tension around teaching civic ideals, maybe like liberty and equality and confronting civic realities, right?

ERIC SOTO-SHED: Absolutely. There's always been critical gaps and we certainly have them today in unique ways. I think that's a real sort of opportunity, right? Because that's interesting when things are in tension. A few ways to do it. I think one of it does really go back to teaching values and principles and ideas, which is really important, but also teaching some of the basic structure so you can get into sort of the examples of today, the examples of that in really sort of nuanced ways. So if you want to talk about the idea of government and having limited power, how is it limited? How is that structurally happening in our government? And then we can talk about why is it limited. We can kind of go back to our declaration for some information around that as well as our own values. And then what are we seeing today in that lens?

I think that that's a real opportunity to bring the ideas of the Declaration of Independence and the ideals of democracy and what we're seeing in reality. Where are those being achieved and where are those falling short has a really powerful critical lens. It's not just, here are the facts, kiddos, but here's some real tension. Let's wrestle with it.

JILL ANDERSON: How does it change for students when we start engaging with more critical thinking, more civic thinking, getting away from just this idea of memorizing facts, especially with texts like the Declaration of Independence.

ERIC SOTO-SHED: Great question. I do want to say as an aside, though, I think there is something value about like maybe memorizing a few things. And could you imagine a world where maybe everybody could repeat at least the opening of the Declaration of Independence? That could be pretty cool. But point taken, right, that even for me as someone that has spent a career in history and social studies, had many classes in middle and high school where my interests and passions were really sort of drowned in facts and static history and civic education. And so you ask what changes for students? I think first and foremost, it comes alive, right?

JILL ANDERSON: Right.

ERIC SOTO-SHED: When you begin to get into the concepts and the ideals, it's no longer something that's sort of just transactional. Here's this thing now I know it. But here's this thing that I'm wrestling with, or here's this thing that I'm using as a lens to understand, or here's this thing that I'm asking questions about, or here's this sort of set of ideas that I'm using to help answer some questions that I have about the world today or the past. And so this idea that civics is a set of skills or values or principles along with some important facts, I think this really makes it something that students can engage with in a meaningful way beyond just, here's the thing that I need to know, let me read it four times, now I know it and I can kind of fill in the blank. I think it's really important for learning, but then I would double down and say it's even more important for being and existing, right?

We're only in school for 13 years. We're on this planet for a lot more, God willing. And when you leave school, many of the facts are going to come with you. The ideas are, the questions are, the skills are. And so when you're engaged as a 19-year-old, thinking about your role in your community or actively voting or taking on an issue, these ideas and skills and concepts can just be profoundly useful. It's just really, really essential for us to get to some of the big ideas along with the important facts.

JILL ANDERSON: We're living in a very politically charged time and it feels like there's something happening every day that could probably be discussed in a civics class. There are a lot of teachers who are probably worried about how to discuss civic issues, especially in this moment. Can you talk a little bit about cultivating a classroom as a space where disagreement doesn't lead to disengagement and where students can feel a sense of belonging?

ERIC SOTO-SHED: Yeah. I mean, in many ways what you're getting at is how I like to think of schools and classrooms not being like sites where we prepare students for the civic world, but really the civic world, right? And perhaps the place where real civic exchanges and dialogue and discourse is happening with young people in these public institutions trying to learn and wrestle through ideas. There's many teachers that have sort of a homogeneous set of views in their classroom and a homogeneous community. And so that polarization is something that's really kind of in the outside world that they're looking in on. It's a lot easier to sort of navigate because you don't have those tensions inside of your classes, right? And then there are other teachers where either the community is not aligned to their views or their students' views or there's just different views in their classrooms.

That's hard, but I also think that's probably where the best education is happening. So how do you do that? I think there's a few things. One is how do you just build up real community before you get into those conversations, right? And so the things that you're doing the first couple of weeks of September, the rituals you're doing on a daily basis for students to be able to show up, express themselves, connect with each other, understand what our common purposes, what our common bonds are, I think are really, really important. One small assignment that I got from some colleagues at the Integrated Action Civics Project out of Berkeley is this idea of students doing something called a worldview assignment where you talk about what is your worldview? How do you view the world and where did that come from? And what I do with my graduate students, but this is really designed for the K-to-12 space, is you have students really just articulate, this is what I believe and why, right?

And so the idea here is to share this in the opening parts of the class and really get that out on the table. This is where I'm at, but more importantly, this is where it comes from, right? And so you begin to see people, not just for the sort of words they say or sort of tagline policies left or right or simple label, but really a more comprehensive view of what I believe and where it comes from. The second thing is I think that you can talk about understanding ideas and how do we understand ideas that we may or may not disagree with. So before we have a lesson where we're going to debate our different stances, let's practice, let's take a look at X figure. Why would some people disagree with X figure? Why would some people agree with them, right? And really practice what it is to understand a perspective.

And often what you're doing there is you're doing three things when you're trying to understand the perspective. You're trying to first think about, what's their reasoning and reasoning is often drawn on with sort of evidence and values, right? So how are they coming to this position? And then you're also trying to think about the context, what is the larger situation on where this position is being made? Those skills are so sorely missed in our polarized discourse, right? It's just attack, attack, attack based on what you say. There's no attempt to understand why you're saying it and what could be prompting you to say that in terms of the larger context.

So I think if you can kind of slow down and get kids to think about what are some of the underlying values, the evidence and rationale that supports the position, as well as the context where this individual might be placed and responding to, can go a long way in sort of saying, "We're not going to go back and forth about who's right or who's wrong, but we're going to go back and forth around why do you believe what you believe and why do I believe what I believe?" And that in and of itself can be really valuable.

JILL ANDERSON: As someone who has been at this work for a long time, students graduating this year and the coming years, what do you really hope they understand about democracy that maybe earlier generations haven't been taught?

ERIC SOTO-SHED: I can say what I think is important for them to really take away, and I think it's this, democracy is a work in progress, that it needs to be nurtured, cultivated. We need to look at the past for inspiration. We need to look at the past for direction. We also need to look at the past for some other problems that we need to address and solve. We have both a tremendous resource in this country around democratic values and institutions and a legacy that we can draw on and we have a tremendous challenge in terms of maintaining, advancing, improving and redressing some of the harm. To think about democracy as something that you are inheriting, that you can really rest on some foundations, but also really need to fight to keep alive and thriving and improve.

JILL ANDERSON: Well, thank you so much, Eric.

ERIC SOTO-SHED: Thank you. Great chatting.

JILL ANDERSON: Eric Soto-Shed is a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He co-leads the Civics Thinking Project, a research initiative focused on creating innovative, research-based civics assessments and curriculum. I'm Jill Anderson. This is The Harvard Edcast produced by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Thanks for listening.