Guest Viewpoint: Citizenship Education Should Be a Critical Focus of Public Schools

American public schools were established to create the next generation of democratic citizens. Today, however, our schools focus more on their academic mission than their civic mission. Our democracy depends on the members of each generation embracing their role as active, principled citizens. Public schools have an obligation to engage students in classroom and community activities to help them understand citizenship. Citizenship education encompasses a wide range of skills and abilities. To be sure, it includes the acquisition of civic knowledge regarding the history and workings of government, the Constitution, and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
But citizenship education also must help students learn such key skills as problem solving, debating, and writing about controversial issues. And it must help students develop the attitudes or dispositions necessary for productive citizenship, including a belief in liberty, equality, personal responsibility, honesty, and a sense that one's actions can make a difference in society.[author]