Exploring Actionable Solutions to Address Civic Illiteracy in PA
As eighth-grader scores fall to their lowest levels, the downward trend on civic literacy in the US continues to be alarming. Businesses are concerned that too many young people lack a basic understanding of government institutions and the responsibilities of being a citizen. On June 13th, BFA | Pennsylvania hosted a panel titled Elevating Civic Literacy in PA for a Bright Economic Future to explore innovative ideas to reverse these trends.
One such idea is known as “action civics,” an applied civic education process where participants learn about government by examining issues in their own community and then selecting a focus issue for action. Business for America was proud to partner with Generation Citizen for their Civics Day in Philadelphia earlier this year. Arielle Jennings, their chief partnership officer, explained the benefits of their programming. “We really feel that the community is a civics lab for young people to try out early in their life, working with elected officials where they’re trying to pass a piece of legislation about mental health at the state level, where they’re trying to advocate potentially for more money in a school budget for guidance counselors. There’s really incredible work that young people can do in their communities, and then, of course, learn from.”
To present a case for more traditional forms of civic education, we welcomed former Congressman Jim Gerlach, a Republican who served Pennsylvania’s 6th congressional district from 2003 to 2015. Now the head of the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance, he favors a focus on providing students with content and knowledge about citizens’ rights and responsibilities. Jim talked about looking at civics as a three-step process. “You start with knowledge of our system of governance in the US, our structure of government as a federalist system with state local governments, and then skills development… knowing your rights as a citizen and the rights within the First Amendment. I think effective civics education has to take a student through all three stages to produce an individual that is then ready to really take on a leadership role in his or her community.”
Angelique Hinton, the executive director for PA Youth Vote and another proponent of action-based civics, shared the feedback she received from teachers in the Philadelphia School District: “I don’t need help registering my students. I need help getting them to understand why they should be voting, why voting is important, and how voting really plays a role in their day-to-day lived experience.” For Angelique that was a moment where the proverbial light went off, which geared PA Youth Vote’s efforts towards providing the “why” for youth voters.
At several points during the discussion, Act 35 in PA was brought up as a potential state-based solution. Act 35 requires local school bodies to administer a locally developed assessment of U.S. history, government, and civics to be administered once a year to students in grades 7–12. However, there is uneven administration and very little data as to the results. Congressman Gerlach described Act 35 as a “great starting point, but it may need to be amended a little bit further and revised based on experiences that teachers have with it.”
Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem likely in the near future. Asked about the prospect of amending Act 35 in the state legislature, BFA PA Policy Director Aizaz Gill shared, “Given the divided legislature in the House and Senate, the prognosis of improving the legislation and its administration are not good. Getting the PA legislature to agree on clarifying the mechanics of the law will be a difficult task. That said, we will continue to explore ways to engage the business community in efforts to support civics education across the Commonwealth in a variety of ways that won’t depend on immediate legislative action.”
From a business perspective, Jim Gerlach summed up the case for employees to care about their employees’ civic literacy and engagement. “Companies have a real important interest in making sure not only that they’re performing well for the shareholders, owners, and customers, but also for employing people that are more well-rounded than just what they do in that office eight hours a day or in that facility hours a day. They have a real interest to enable them as citizens in their communities who contribute to the welfare and the well-being of those communities”
To hear more insights of the discussion, you can watch the video in full on our YouTube channel. To learn more about our programs and partnership to elevate civics in Pennsylvania, please contact Aizaz Gill.
