The import of civic education
In recent years, civic education, an important element for democracy to flourish, has fallen to the public schools, universities, and colleges to provide, said Peter Levine, director of the Center for Learning and Engagement and research director at Tufts University’s Jonathan Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service. “There used to be a lot of institutions — labor unions, political parties, churches — that recruited you without asking you to be civically educated,” Levine said. “All these have been shattered.” There is “nothing that has that same function that turns you into a citizen outside of schools.” Levine was a panelist Monday for a seminar called “The Fate of Civic Education in a Connected World,” a “Fred Friendly” session held in Austin Hall at Harvard Law School. Based on the PBS programs originated by the late broadcaster Friendly, the seminars engage audiences and panelists in public policy conversations. Monday’s event explored the...