When it comes to a Legislative session, it’s a given that the annual Tallahassee gathering will feature its share of problematic bills. They can range from the absurdly unnecessary to the recklessly dangerous. This year’s Exhibits A and B would arguably be the ban on bestiality and the proscription on adoptive agencies asking prospective parents if they have any guns around the house.
And yet this session looks promising — in both the House and Senate — for a requirement that has been too long deferred — the teaching of civics in middle school. The wonder is that we’ve tolerated its absence so long.
The need to know about government and the value of civic engagement is especially acute in a state such as Florida, where so many are from so many other places — such that a sense of community is much more of a challenge.
And getting an early handle on how government works can help prepare tomorrow’s voters to discern whether, frankly, it does or doesn’t. And who knows, perhaps a better grounding in civics will lessen the need for so many adults to outsource their views — from term limits and Hometown Democracy to the intent of the founding fathers — to partisan political hucksters.
Two other points. The civics class, aimed at being in place by 2012, comes with an end-of-course assessment test. In a state educational environment that defines accountability — and priority subjects — via tests, it was the correct, pragmatic route to go.
Second, this effort deserves a shout out to former Governor and Senator Bob Graham, who, along with former U.S. Rep. Lou Frey, worked tirelessly to make the teaching of civics in our schools a priority. Graham has long been making the case that our system of government is only as good as its citizens. We undereducate them in the basics at our own democratic peril.