Indiana considers bill to require civics class in grades 6, 7 and 8

(The Center Square) – The Indiana legislature took up a bill to require civics education in all three years of middle school, with the author of the bill speaking passionately about the need for students in the state to learn about government and the country’s founding principles.

“Recent times and events have shaken and tested our democratic standards and practices,” said Rep. Anthony Cook, R-Cicero, “and it is our duty to work hard to keep and reinforce our democratic principles, and to train our students to understand and embrace our form of government.”

Cook’s bill, introduced in the House Education Committee, calls for the state to establish standards for civics education by July 1, 2022, and require all students in sixth, seventh and eighth grade to successfully complete a one-semester civics education class.

The requirement would apply to students in all regular public and charter schools and all private schools accredited by the state.

The bill, SB 1384, would also create a commission, called the Indiana Civic Education Commission, to be chaired by the lieutenant governor or a person she designates.

The commission would review best practices, pedagogy and policy for civics education and make recommendations for how to best implement civics education in Indiana.

It would consist of 15 members: the lieutenant governor or her designee; the chief justice of the state or his designee; the secretary of state or her designee; the secretary of education or her designee; one person appointed by the speaker of the house; one by the minority leader of the House; one by the Senate president; one by the Senate minority leader and several appointed by Gov. Eric Holcomb, including: a teacher, a superintendent, a representative of the Indiana Bar Foundation, a representative of a nonprofit organization that works with “urban youth” and two people representing teacher preparation programs.

In introducing the bill, Cook, a former high school government teacher and superintendent, quoted former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, saying, “The practice of democracy is not passed down through our gene pool. It must be taught and learned anew by each generation of citizens. It must be reinforced, enhanced and embraced.”

He paused and then added a firm, “Amen.”

SB 1384, he said, is modeled on a similar bill in Florida that was named for the late Justice O’Connor.

In talking of the need for civics education, Cook cited the National Assessment of Educational Progress 2018 report that showed only 24% of eighth-graders in the United States were rated “proficient” or above in their knowledge of civics and also an Annenberg Public Policy Center study that showed that only 26% of American adults could name the three branches of government.

“Civics education rarely has anyone against it, with most recognizing its importance, but strangely, and fundamentally, it is not prioritized,” said Cook, quoting Shawn Healy, director of the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

The bill appeared to have the enthusiastic support of most, if not all members of the committee, with the ranking minority member, Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, asking if civics education could be considered the same as patriotic education and saying that as a student in school, he remembered having a patriotic education.

“We sang songs that still cause chills through my system when I hear them,” he said, and added that they were taught to say the Pledge of Allegiance, even though for a time he didn’t want to say it.

“I didn’t try to be overt in it,…but I didn’t want to say it,” he said. “But when you travel and go elsewhere and you see what the rest of the world has to offer and you compare it to our own nation, even with its problems, this is a great nation.”

Smith urged that civics education include patriotic education, saying, “Our country is on the verge of dissolution.”

“I’m not talking about brainwashing. I’m talking about exposure,” he said.

“I think we start with our Declaration of Independence,” said Cook, describing how he thinks civics should be taught in middle schools. “We start with our Constitution, and how that is still the law of the land and everything else comes from that.”

In Indiana, there are state standards for social studies for every grade level, with civics education considered a part of social studies. But with reading and math assessments beginning in third grade, those subjects tend to get the most focus, resulting in a “narrowing” of the curriculum – in Indiana and other states.

“I want to see social studies and science, particularly, enriched and encouraged,” said Cook.

A representative of the Indiana Bar Foundation, which helped organize the task force last summer to make recommendations on civic education, testified in favor of the bill, as did a representative of the Indiana Association of School Principals, though he expressed some concern about scheduling.

“The middle school curriculum for social studies is pretty well set,” he said, saying in sixth grade, students study Europe and the Americas, in seventh they study Africa, Asia and the South Pacific and in eighth, U.S. history up to Reconstruction.

“So, principals are wondering, where does this fit in with that?” he said.

Cook’s bill is expected to be taken up by the committee again in the coming weeks and to be voted on, according to a staffer for Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, who chairs the House Education Committee.

Co-sponsors of the bill include Reps. Jeffrey Thompson, Robert Cherry and Donna Schaibley.

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