A Texas high school student living in foster care had to ride the bus to go anywhere. He caught the bus to school, to church, and back home.

In one of his classes, he was tasked with completing a civic engagement project – finding a solution in his community – which gave him an idea: What if he could get the bus service to let current students ride the bus for free?

So he did.

With the push from this civic assignment and working within his community, he secured free transportation for all current students.

His story is “action civics,” a type of civic education that allows students to actively participate in their own community.

But this approach to civics education is not without critics.

Lizzette Gonzalez Reynolds is a board member for an organization called Generation Citizen,  which was created “to ensure that every student in the United States receives an effective action civics education.” Reynolds recently offered us her perspective on civic education.

Action civics as a tool to combat political polarization?

Both sides of the political spectrum acknowledge that U.S civic education is dismal, but there’s not a consensus on how to address the problem.

Here in Utah, action civics legislation that was passed during the 2020 Utah Legislative session authorized a pilot program for a civic engagement program requirement.

In general, proponents of “action civics” argue that in order to learn civics, students need real-life application. But critics fear this approach pushes students toward social activism before they know the basics. For many conservatives, the concern is that action civics may end up only pushing socially popular or progressive causes.

For Reynolds, if action civics can lead to tangible learning, then fear of political polarization is an insufficient reason to dismiss the approach:

The idea behind “action civics” is to enable students to use their civic knowledge to engage in a project that is relevant not only to them but to their community. They have to know how government works so they can reach a shared goal: identifying the pillars of local government to create an action that leads to a solution.

This isn’t about protesting but is about creating the opportunity for students to use the skills many adults need to get things done: collaboration, patience, engaging with actual decisionmakers, etc. With some general guidance from their teachers, students can form their own opinions about how to identify solutions that work.

If there is a way to get students to learn through real-life participation, then action civics has merit. But as always, implementation and the resources teachers have will be as important as the concept. Likewise, civic education needs to be complemented by a rich American history education and knowledge about the basic functions of government.

History must accompany action civics

This year has seen visible conflict over American history and how it’s been interpreted, and how many Americans feel it should be interpreted.

We need to capitalize on those differences and the resulting rhetoric to create a dialogue. We need to continue healthy discussions while emphasizing our country’s civic principles and how they are always growing and evolving.

According to Reynolds, good civic education should combine history, government and participation:

What happens when you silo these topics? It’s boring. There shouldn’t be a separation at all. We want kids to understand our history, and how we got where we are. But you also want to see them apply it in a way that they can demonstrate their knowledge through their learning. And that’s what Generation Citizen does […] through this lens of action civics.

Our founding documents are not just these static writings that sit in the archives in Washington, D.C. They are relevant to everything we do today.

The need for improved civic education today

Statistics reveal that students and adults alike do not know the basics of U.S. government. What’s at the core of this renewed interest? Reynolds believes:

Our country is divided. A strong civics education for all of our students is an opportunity to bring people together. To agree to disagree. To figure out together how to improve our country and our communities by engaging in civic discourse, listening to each other’s viewpoints, establishing a shared understanding in spite of our differences in opinion.

A strong civics education, not only for kids but for adults, could really push things forward in a more productive way, allowing for solutions to emerge as we tackle issues of social unrest and misunderstanding.

Societal turmoil is leading many of us to ask how we move past this moment. How do we unite as a nation again? How do we engage when something needs to be changed? What does our future look like? Is it bright or dark?

Improved civics education will be part of the answer. Not every shiny new idea in its space will be a good one, and action civics isn’t perfect, but its impact is gaining steam.