While most educators believe that civics instruction needs to be improved in America, they disagree on the nature of the improvement needed. Progressive educational advocates like Joan Gilbert and Eve Rifkin argue that “[s]chool systems are failing their students” when they offer an “outdated and inconsequential” education “only focused on facts and memorization,” while conservative commentators like Frederick M. Hess contend that a well-meaning focus on action and “critical thinking” will amount to nothing because it never truly addresses what “students are going to think critically about.”
How should educators approach civics instruction? Should they encourage social activism, emphasize core knowledge in the classroom, or find some way to mediate between these two positions? What form of improvement is most likely to produce informed and active citizens?
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