The Role of Civic Education. Task Force on Civic Education Paper.

Overview & Synopsis

Civic education is essential for sustaining constitutional democracy in the United States, a country with the world's oldest constitutional democracy with political institutions whose philosophical foundations serve as a model for aspiring peoples around the world. This task force paper involves a nation-wide discussion of civic education, what its principal goals should be, and how civic education can be revitalized. The paper answers the following questions: "What is civic education and what should its principal goals be?"; "What evidence is there of the need to improve civic education?"; "What is the relationship of civic education and character education?"; What are the characteristics of successful programs in civic education?"; and "How can civic education be revitalized?" (Contains 25 references.) (CB)