Tucson Opinion: Teaching civics needs to take front row

As former chairs of the Pima County Democratic and Republican parties, it isn’t often that we agree on policy. Extreme polarization regarding almost every topic is the new normal. But we have found an area of common ground, and we think it is worth sharing: We agree that an educated electorate is good for our nation.

The Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) has a new general education policy with the goal of preparing graduates to “participate fully as informed citizens in a robust constitutional democracy based in values of individual freedom, self-reliance, and equality under the law, diversity, inclusion and constructive dialog through civil discourse.” ABOR’s general education policy 2-210 requires a range of study including (but not limited to) literature, fine arts and humanities, natural sciences, communication, mathematics and quantitative reasoning, social and behavioral sciences. It also requires that “all students receive exposure multiple times to the targeted knowledge,” including “American Institutions,” which many of us refer to as “civics” or “government.”

According to the policy, American Institutions will include important topics including how the history of the United States continues to shape the present; the basic governing principles set forth in the U.S. Constitution and how they are applied; major American constitutional debates and developments; the essential founding documents and how they have shaped the nature and functions of American institutions of self-governance; landmark Supreme Court cases that have shaped law and society; the civic actions necessary for effective citizenship and civic participation; and basic economic knowledge to critically assess public policy options and to inform professional and personal decisions.

Though not included in the ABOR policy, we strongly recommend that the curriculum include education on state and local governmental structures. These are the levels of government that most directly influence our day-to-day lives, yet that is where we have seen lower levels of engagement by the general public.

We hope that this program will also give students the tools they need to critically assess the information sources they rely on to make voting decisions. Unfortunately, we are living in a time where social media, a notoriously unreliable source, is the primary purveyor of information. Algorithms ensure that users receive information that supports and strengthens their current opinions, whether right or wrong, and makes them more extreme. Although we may disagree on how to interpret the facts, we should be starting from a much higher level of agreement about those facts.

Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University’s plans are well-developed, so we were surprised to see that the UA’s proposed new general education policies, as posted on the Faculty Senate’s website, never mention the required civics curriculum. We hope this was an unintentional oversight that can be remedied as soon as possible.

Civics education has been relegated to the back burner for too long, to the detriment of our nation. This has likely contributed to the current degree of polarization, voter apathy, and pervasive misunderstanding of our most basic rights. We applaud ABOR for creating this policy. And we look forward to hearing more about the University of Arizona’s plans for implementing a prompt, transparent and nonpartisan American Institutions curriculum that will prepare graduates to become thoughtful and educated citizens, leaders, voters, and active participants at all levels of government: municipal, county, state and our federal constitutional republic.